EU Commissioner Kroes criticises cabinet's anti-Europe attitude

Sunday 10 July 2011

The Dutch government should stop criticising the European Union and instead highlight all the positive things it has done, EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in an interview with the Telegraaf at the weekend.

Kroes, who is in charge of the EU's digital agenda, said that the Dutch criticism, particularly since the start of the Greek financial crisis, had not gone unnoticed in Brussels.

The Netherlands has profited enormously from the open EU market and should not ignore that fact, the former businesswoman said.

Financial tone

'The tone adopted by finance minister Jan Kees de Jager, for example, is different to that of his predecessors,' Kroes said.

De Jager is opposed to any more loans for Greece unless very strict conditions are met. He also backs forcing banks and insurers to join the bail-out.

De Jager told news agency ANP on Sunday he is prepared to be 'very unpopular' because of his position on Greece.

'It is all about financial guarantees and loans from the Netherlands and that is a sensitive issue here,' he said.

Agreement

Meanwhile, immigration minister Gerd Leers told the paper Kroes does have a point. 'We are working on our tone. We have discussed this in the cabinet,' Leers said.

Nevertheless, Brussels should also understand the Dutch position, he said. ' Other European countries should understand that we are asking a lot of our citizens, in terms of working longer and spending cuts,' he said.

The Netherlands has also come under fire from Poland, current holder of the EU presidency, for saying it wants to deport jobless eastern Europeans back home.

© DutchNews.nl

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