Crucial Talks Government with Opposition

On Monday the negotiation between opposition and government started again after the weekend. At 10 pm crucial discussions started between Rutte, Dijselbloem and the group leaders of the House of D66, GroenLinks, SGP, ChristenUnie, PvdA and VVD.

On Monday afternoon Vice Prime Minister Asscher and minister of Finance Dijsselbloem first talked with all the financial specialists of the involved parties. The meeting started at 1.30 pm till 6 pm.

After the meeting financial expert of VVD, Mark Habers, said that there was no solution yet. Another meeting will be planned with the government and the group leaders..

That meeting started at 10 pm at the ministry of Finance. Upon arrival Alexander Pechtold told the press, “if the government doesn’t come up with clarity about the 6 billion of cuts, employment and investments in education, then D66 is out. So, this is a crucial meeting”.

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GroenLinks leader Bram van Ojik told the press that GroenLinks only will continue the discussion when the six billion of cuts are also negotiable. This puts GroenLinks totally at the other side of the table than the other negotiation partners.

The meeting is, besides being crucial for D66, also crucial to the government. The General Financial Discussions which should have been held last week in the House, were postponed after the budget discussions in the House. At the end of the budget discussions some opposition parties and the government, saw possibilities to come to an agreement about the final budget for 2014. This would mean that budget proposals would not be stopped by the Senate because PvdA and VVD have no majority in the Senate by themselves.

But one week delay seemed not enough. Since the general financial discussions may be delayed only maximum two weeks, it is crucial that a solution with the opposition is found this week.

At 2 am Tuesday morning the negotiation was stopped, but later on Tuesday the negotiators will continue.