Agreements made with Brussels about the Dutch budget deficit mean the government will have to cut spending by an additional €7bn next year, the NRC reports on Thursday, quoting sources in The Hague.

The new round of cuts will come on top of the €18bn-worth of cuts already agreed in 2010. While it has been known for some time that the cabinet needs to generate more savings, the role of Brussels has not been clear, the paper says.
Under monetary union rules, the budget deficit must be under 3%, but the Dutch deficit is set to reach at least 3.7%, according to the latest economic forecasts. The government has based current spending plans on a deficit of 1.8%.
Deal
The Netherlands agreed with Brussels in 2009 to eradicate its ‘excessive deficit’ by 2013, the paper says.
The government’s macro-economic forecasting agency CPB is due to publish its latest forecasts in March. The government will then have to inform Brussels about what measures it plans to take by mid April, the paper says.
Those measures are widely expected to be the subject of extremely difficult discussions between the two coalition parties – the VVD and CDA – and their alliance partner, Geert Wilders’ PVV.