There are two main issues in today’s papers: one is the Greek economy, the other government plans to raise the pension age. The Netherlands is forced to recognise a 64-year-old war crime. Divorce is in the news. And two Freedom Party executives do a U-turn on chauffeur-driven cars.

Finance minister under pressure
One photograph is printed repeatedly on almost all the front pages. Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager, his head bowed and his forehead held in one hand. The minister was obviously under a lot of pressure during yesterday’s debate about Greece.

De Telegraaf calculates that Greece has already cost Dutch tax payers 300 euros per household and lists all the things the government could have done with the 4.7 billion euros the Netherlands is due to pay in all towards the Greek bail-out.

Meanwhile the minister is caught between a rock and a hard place. Trouw reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy concluded, after a telephone call with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, that Athens should remain in the eurozone. There’s irritation in Europe over the “cacophony of criticism” coming from some European leaders. Minister De Jager is one of them. He was forced in parliament to deny earlier reports that he had given up on the Greeks.

Then there is the eurosceptic Freedom Party (PVV), which couldn’t help gloating in parliament yesterday: “if only you had listened to us for the past year and a half!” De Volkskrant reminds us they opposed bailing out the Greeks from the outset. But PVV spokesperson on financial affairs Tony van Dijk didn’t look quite so smug, writes Trouw, when cornered on the question of whether his party would support sending more money to Greece if it were cheaper in the long run for taxpayers.

Pension age is another problem for coalition
AD points out that, with one week to go before budget day, problems are piling up for the coalition. And one of those problems is the continuing row over raising the pension age. On Tuesday, Social Affairs Minister Henk Kamp hailed victory saying he had reached agreement with the FNV trade union confederation – what he failed to mention was that two of the affiliated unions did not actually back the deal, even after last minute concessions.

Trouw’s commentary says the unions have overplayed their hand and this is the best deal they can expect. Today the plans will be debated in parliament and the minority coalition will be looking to the Labour Party for support.

On Wednesday, journalists in The Hague scrambled to report on a meeting between Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Minister Kamp and Labour party leader Job Cohen. The minority government can only expect support from the Labour Party, the Christian Union and the SGP. The other parties do not back the deal. Some parties think the plan envisages pension age increasing too slowly, while others believe it does not need to be increased at all.

So it’s all eyes on Labour and what concessions Mr Cohen has managed to extract in exchange for his vote.

Netherlands forced to recognise Rawagede massacre
It may have taken 64 years, but the Dutch have finally been forced to take responsibility for the Rawagede massacre, de Volkskrant reports. On 9 December 1947, 431 unarmed men and boys were executed in the Indonesian village without any form of trial, in retaliation for an attack during the former colony's fight for independence.

A court in The Hague has ordered the Dutch government to pay compensation to eight widows and relatives. It threw out the Netherlands’ claim that the statute of limitations applied to the massacre, partly on the grounds that it was the refusal of the Dutch authorities to apologise for the massacre that had led to time lapsing.

The Netherlands had hoped to clear its conscience a few years ago by paying development money for a school in the village. But the money never got past Jakarta.

Both de Volkskrant and Trouw ponder on the astonishment which greeted the outcome of the case. Trouw tells the story of Wanti Binti Dodo, who lost her husband at the age of 17. She hid, heavily pregnant, under the bed with her two children during the attack. It was the next day before she ventured out into the fields to find her dead husband. The graveyard in the centre of the village only has 181 graves, as 250 bodies were never found.

The question now is whether the Netherlands will appeal against the verdict. If it does, compensation may come too late for some. The only man to survive the massacre died in May, and three of the widows have also died since beginning the case.

Divorces up in September
It is national Divorce Day, Trouw informs us. Apparently, requests for divorces generally increase in September. Nrc.next writes that men are financially better off after divorce and they pay more attention to their children.

Trouw considers the pros and cons of co-parenthood in which both parents take on 50 percent of responsibility for bringing up the kids. Apparently this popular legal construction in the Netherlands is not welcomed by housing associations which demand 100 percent responsibility for the children before they give priority to single parents on their waiting lists.

Meanwhile the paper asks whether co-parenthood is good for children. Well the answer is yes and no. Twenty percent of children have two homes to go to after a divorce and, although it is a bit of a bother, it’s kind of nice when both mum and dad make the sandwiches for school.

Nrc.next focuses on the popularity among men of mixed self-help groups for divorcees. Male participants are generally disappointed that women prefer the all-female groups – apparently, the main motivation for men to come along is to get a date. So while men go looking for a new life… women find themselves.

Freedom Party U-turn in Limburg
Two provincial Freedom Party politicians in the southern province of Limburg have done a U-turn. De Volkskrant explains that one of their campaign promises was to reject the chauffeur driven car if they became executives on the provincial council. The issue became a symbol of the political culture of greed in Limburg.

But the two have changed their minds, they found they “lost so much time travelling that they couldn’t get their work done.” Their principled stand led to ridiculous situations,writes provincial daily Dadblad De Limburger. While one provincial executive was chauffeur driven to a meeting, the Freedom Party executives took the train to the same meeting.