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Absentee prime minister under fire, parliament recalled for crisis debateThursday 11 August 2011 A number of opposition leaders are openly criticising prime minister Mark Rutte for not showing sufficient leadership as the economic crisis deepens, the AD reports on Thursday. Liberal democrat leader Alexander Pechtold told the paper he misses 'a sense of urgency and leadership' from the prime minister, who needs to show 'he is in control'. 'We may be heading for a severe dip,' Pechtold said, referring to the uncertainty on the financial markets. 'In that case I expect the prime miniser to be here, on television, explaining what is going on.' Job Cohen, Labour party leader, is also concerned about the prime minister's 'total silence', the paper says. And GroenLinks MP Bruno Braakhuis said: 'The flames are being fanned all around us, but we see the prime minister having a good time at Dance Valley'. Rutte was filmed dancing at the popular summer festival last weekend. Parliament is returning from the summer break next week for an emergency debate with Rutte and finance minister Jan Kees de Jager about the European debt crisis and the latest support package for Greece. The recall is supported by all the opposition parties, who want to know why Rutte got it wrong when he said the €109bn bail-out package included €50bn from the banks. Both De Jager and the finance ministry's top civil servant have implied the prime minister made a mistake. Trouw Meanwhile, newspaper Trouw has urged 'the dancing prime minister' to start talking politics again. 'Some say perhaps his carefree pose was supposed to have a calming effect on the nervous financial markets,' the paper says in an editorial. 'But it has not helped much.' It is time to start expressing his political ideas in words again, the paper states. 'Rutte was silent when Geert Wilders recently referred to mosques as 'palaces of hate'. 'He got lost in the billions of euros being used to bail out Greece, so there was unnecessary doubt about the size of the Dutch contribution. At the moment, a relaxed approach is inappropriate for a prime minister.'
© DutchNews.nl
Rutte and friends want all the glory but little responsibility when the real problems come. We have the Republicans and Tea Party in the US with the same mindset. By Bill | August 11, 2011 10:57 AM Please forgive my ignorance about the Dutch political process, but is something similar to an impeachment possible here? And if so, how does it work? Thank you for satisfying my curiosity, whomever is kind enough to answer my questions. By Maru | August 11, 2011 6:44 PM
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This is not at all surprising. Rutte is no statesman. He is someone interested in his own ambitions. He is not PM because he loves our country, but only as a carreer step! His permanent smile means "I got there! How satisfied I am with my self". He would have made agreements with the devil to become PM. So why are we now whining about his behavior? Of course he's not interested in the finances of NL, or in the effects of Wilders' hate speech, or on the recession, or in how much money goes to Greece (or not)... for Rutte all this is just a necessary pain to be a PM, but he will ignore it as much as possible.
By Leon | August 11, 2011 8:41 AM