An occasional feeling of loneliness is inherent in the job of prime minister, Dutch premier Mark Rutte said in an interview with the Telegraaf.

‘In the end, it is me who has to drive things forward,’ he told the country’s biggest newspaper. ‘Once you’ve got all the recommendations in and you are sitting at your desk, then you have to take a decision.’

Military missions

This sense of being solitary comes across in all the big issues, he said, and singled out military missions to Kunduz in Afghanistan and Mali as two examples.

There are, he said, only a few people to share these feelings with. Once a year, Rutte said he invites his predecessors in the job to his offices. ‘They too understand the job can be very lonely on occasion,’ he told the Telegraaf.

Looking forward to 2014, Rutte said it will be a year of recovery. 2014 will be a year in which the economy ‘begins a very cautious recovery and we can look ahead again’.

Nevertheless, unemployment will continue to grow and the spending cuts will continue, he said.