STOCK MARKET WATCH - Tuesday, 13 March 2012

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80. Dutch government in lockdown as AAA-rated Holland comes unstuck

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/13/dutch-government-lockdown-eu-rulebook


Dutch PM Mark Rutte, ministers and coalition partners hold a press conference outside his villa in The Hague. Photograph: Roel Rozenburg/EPA

A hush has descended on a handsome 17th century villa in The Hague where the leaders of Holland's rightwing minority government are huddled over spending ledgers, debt projections, budget balances, housing market analyses and deteriorating pension fund figures.

Mark Rutte, prime minister and leader of the liberal-conservative VVD party, has imposed a vow of omerta on his colleagues locked away in his official residence until they chart a path out of a worsening public finances debacle.

Europe's two-year debt and deficit crisis has pitted preachy northern creditors against "feckless" Mediterranean spendthrifts – countries the Dutch are wont to dub the "garlic belt".

But suddenly the air in Brussels and elsewhere is thick with tales of pots and kettles, glass houses and stonethrowing as triple-A rated Holland comes unstuck.

Rutte launched the three-week retreat for the top members of his government at his residence last week after shock budget projections from the CPB Bureau for Economic Analysis, the old and authoritative thinktank which crunches the finance ministry's numbers.