A number of opposition parties are accusing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte of lack of leadership on the ever-deepening euro crisis, says today’s AD newspaper.

Alexander Pechtold, the leader of the D66 democrat party, misses “a sense of urgency and authority” on the part of Mr Rutte, saying the prime minister should let it be seen that “he’s on top of the issue”. Labour (PvdA) leader Job Cohen thinks it odd that Mr Rutte “is keeping emphatically silent” on the euro crisis.

“There’s a fire raging all around us, but all we see is a prime minister enjoying himself at Dance Valley,” says Green Left MP Bruno Braakhuis, referring to Mr Rutte’s recent photo opportunity at the Dutch pop festival.

Quizzed by MPs
On Wednesday, a parliamentary committee quizzed civil servants on last month’s Eurozone summit. After the summit, Mr Rutte said Greece was going to be bailed out to the tune of 109 billion euros, but the figure turned out to be 159 billion euros.

The committee has called on the PM to come to parliament next week to explain the alleged gaffe to MPs in person. During the debate, Mr Rutte will have to say whether or not he miscalculated when presenting the results of the summit.

Read more about Mr Rutte’s summit ‘mistake’

(mw/ae)

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