The conservative VVD, the senior partner in the outgoing minority government coalition, is holding its party congress today.

VVD chair Benk Korthals has told the party faithful that the run-up to the 12 September election is going to be “a long, hot political summer”. He said it was in the country’s interest that the VVD once again won the largest number of MPs and went on form the next government coalition.

He praised VVD leader, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte, for having “proved himself at home and abroad”, arguing that he deserved to serve another term.

In turn, Mr Rutte told congress that, if returned to power, he would overturn some of the measures he agreed with opposition parties just after his minority government fell at the end of April.

The raft of measures, a mixture of cutbacks and reforms, was designed to ensure that the Netherlands’ budget deficit for 2013 would be within the European Union limit of three percent of GDP. The measures had to be presented to the European Commission by the end of April or the Netherlands would have faced an enormous fine from Brussels.

Mr Rutte wants to replace some of the measures which “hit the hard working Dutch citizen”, such as a tax on work-related travel expenses paid by the employer.

(mw)

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