Dijsselbloem Blames Pechtold

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Minister of Finance and Vice Prime Minister, is still willing to talk, with the opposition, about the cuts for next year. This he said on Monday at a Labour Party meeting in Amsterdam. Dijsselbloem responded to D66 leader Alexander Pechtold, who announced Monday that he had been informed on Friday by Dijsselbloem, by telephone, that consultation was not necessary anymore. Dijsselbloem says that that version is not true and states that he has been trying, before the summer, to make an appointment after everybody’s holiday. Both with Pechtold and with GroenLinks leader Bram Ojik "Ojik has put the appointment in his agenda, but the D66 leader did not, because they thought that we had to give money first. So, I didn’t cancel an appointment, as he seems to suggest, he was not willing to make one." D66 wants that 1.6 billion must be released for education. "I never say never, but I hope that D66 understands that the economic situation is very difficult at the moment and that it is therefore very difficult to just make free nearly 2 billion," said Dijsselbloem. That does not mean that the Labour Minister will not seek cooperation with opposition parties.