Dutch PM set polls for September

Elections to choose a new Dutch government will be held on September 12, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Friday following his coalition's collapse after failed austerity talks. "We (the cabinet) have finalised the date of the elections. It has been pinned for September 12, 2012. Then it's up to voters," Rutte announced in The Hague at his weekly press conference after a cabinet meeting on Friday. Rutte and his ministers quit Monday after his minority government and its far-right ally, the party of eurosceptic Geert Wilders, failed to agree on a plan to slash the budget to steer the eurozone's fifth-largest economy back below the EU deficit ceiling of three percent, from last year's 4.7 percent. The agreement, according to the coalition government consisting of Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the Christian Democrats, would have seen cuts amounting to 14.4 billion euros and brought the deficit down to 2.8 percent next year. Rutte had told the Lower House on Tuesday he expected the elections on the announced date but it had to be set in stone by the outgoing cabinet on Friday. Although not part of the ruling coalition, Wilders' far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) had effectively guaranteed the government's majority for the last 18 months by agreeing to support it in parliament. Nevertheless, lawmakers belonging to Rutte's coalition together with three other minority parties mounted a majority in parliament late Thursday to get a new austerity package passed. The five parties, representing 77 seats in the 150-seat Lower House, agreed on measures that include a sales tax hike, health care cuts and a pay freeze for civil servants. A total amount for the new cuts package was not given. In addition to Rutte's VVD party and the Christian Democrats, the bill is supported by centrists of the D66, an environmentalist party and the Christian party ChristenUnie. "It's a plan that's not without painful measures, but bringing finances in order is never without pain," Rutte said at Friday's press conference. "But we will not allow our children and our grandchildren to inherit our debt," said Rutte, adding "we want to show the financial markets we are busy getting our finances in order in the best Dutch tradition." The burden of the new proposed cuts will be "balanced" between households and business, Rutte said. A draft of the package was delivered to Brussels on Friday evening, finance ministry spokeswoman Simone Boitelle told AFP, beating an April 30 deadline. Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager earlier told reporters in The Hague: "This package will show the European Union and other countries in Europe that the Netherlands will take responsibility to meet the target of three percent and economic growth." In Brussels, EU Economy Commissioner Olli Rehn welcomed the agreement reached on the Dutch budget. "It sends a strong signal on the commitment to keep Dutch public finances on a sound footing and sustainable, while aiming to preserve the welfare of future generations," Rehn said in a statement.