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4/24/12

The Netherlands: Political crises not out of control if political elite pulls together

The Wall Street Journal reports that  "the Dutch government fell amid a dispute over budget cuts, underscoring the growing difficulty Europe's leaders face against a darkening economic picture, massive debts, angry voters and volatile financial markets.

On Monday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte became the latest euro-zone leader to fall victim to the region's economic funk, tendering his resignation after failing to win enough backing in parliament for measures to cut the country's budget deficit. The leaders of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy also have been forced out recently as the region's economy worsens.

The Netherlands, one of the few triple A rated  economies in the world ( the US is not)  which has the fifth-biggest economy in the 17-nation euro zone, has more room to maneuver than many of its peers, economists say.  The country is a net lender to rather than a borrower from the rest of Europe, unlike the euro's southern members. That matters, because the European countries with debt crises are those that need to borrow large amounts from abroad each year".

Note EU-Digest: The situation in Europe and in this case the Netherlands is not as gloomy as the US financial press and some of their cohorts in Europe seem to indicate for obvious reasons. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will be speaking to the Dutch Parliament today and its thought highly possible that the Dutch outgoing Government will eventually try to come up with a budget which is acceptable to a majority of the parties in the Parliament and the EU before the elections are held.

For more go to the WSJ a Rupert Murdoch owned newspaper

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