Christian Democrat party leader Sybrand van Haersma Buma launched a strong attack on prime minister and coalition partner Mark Rutte on Monday evening.

According to media reports, Van Haersma Buma called the caretaker prime minister ‘cowardly’ and ‘afraid’ of the anti-immigration party PVV, and said he is not telling the truth about the importance of development aid and the advantages of being in the EU.
The CDA leader was speaking at a party meeting in Amsterdam.
According to Van Haersma Buma, Rutte is trying to turn his party, the right-wing liberal VVD, into a copy of the PVV. ‘A PVV-light is bad for our job opportunities, for our families and for our society,’ he said, say press reports.
The PVV’s decision to pull out of austerity talks forced the collapse of the government coalition, prompting the September 12 general election.
Aid spending
He also took Rutte to task for VVD plans to slash €3bn from the Dutch development aid budget. Van Haersma Buma pointed out that Dutch businesses profit from the international position of the Netherlands. Rutte must tell the whole story, he said.
Van Haersma Buma sees the same lack of honesty in Rutte’s remarks about Europe. ‘For the past few weeks, I haven’t known whether he is for or against,’ he told the meeting. ‘This just leaves the Netherlands limping along at the rear,’ he said.
Rutte must tell the full story of how important the EU is for the Netherlands. ‘Be honest and say the EU is our jobs,’ the CDA leader said.