The cabinet is still planning to present a package of emergency measures to boost the economy on Friday despite the difficulty of reaching a deal, finance minister Wouter Bos told the Financieele Dagblad.

‘It is ímportant for everyone’ to reach a deal this week, Bos said, ahead of a meeting with prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
Meanwhile, social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner has apologised for appearing to ‘negotiate in front of the cameras’ after telling tv reporters that the extra €5bn that ministers are considering investing in stimulating the economy would not have much afffect.
The government is already planning to spend €50m on boosting the economy over the next few years, Donner said. ‘We are a small country and cannot stimulate world trade on our own.’
Talks on how to tackle the current recession have been going on since last week but there is still no movement on what steps should be taken, say political commentators. The main stumbling block remains how and when to make cuts to compensate for extra spending to stimualte the economy, insiders say.
The Volkskrant reports that ministers are also angry at the role played by unions and employers who have agreed to implement a pay freeze as long as the retirement age is not increased.
The paper says ministers feel that the market will force down wages anyway and that by opposing an increase in the pension age, unions are saddling the negotiators with extra problems.