People’s own responsibility for themselves must again be placed centre stage, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende said on Saturday, news agency ANP reports.

The prime minister was speaking at a church service marking 500 years since the birth of church reformer John Calvin.
Calvin give rise to the religious movement Calvinism, which is associated with a sober, hardworking approach to life and stresses the rule of God in all things.
The PM said that Calvin stressed that people have great responsibility for the choices that they make and are morally obliged to use that freedom of choice for the public good
The welfare state of the 1970s and ‘holy belief’ in the market of the 1980s and 1990s are ‘led to excesses’ and we ‘are now picking the bitter fruits,’ he said.
Responsible behaviour will lead to more involvement and respect and is the basis for a society which is strong enough ‘to let everyone share in wealth and health’, the PM was quoted as saying by ANP.