Right-wing cabinet deal presented next week, CPB mulling finances

The three parties involved in talks on forming a right-wing government hope to be able to present their plans next week, possibly as early as Tuesday, the Volkskrant reports on Friday, quoting sources close to the negotiations.


The broad outlines have been completed and were delivered a week ago to the government’s macro-economic policy unit CPB to be checked for their likely effects on cabinet and household spending, the paper says.
The parties – the right-wing VVD Liberals, anti-Islam PVV and Christian Democrats – hope to hear the CPB’s verdict later on Friday. The Netherlands went to the polls on June 9 but has been without effective government since late February when the cabinet collapsed following divisions over Afghanistan.
The plans are supposed to generate savings of €18bn, but sources told the paper observers should not be surprised if VVD leader Mark Rutte opts for measures which will have a ‘less far-reaching’ effect.
Vote
Once the agreement has been reached, MPs from the three parties will vote on whether or not to accept it. The CDA will also put the document to a party congress, which will probably be held on October 2 or 9. Up to 3,000 members are expected to attend.
The Telegraaf reports that caretaker justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin, who is known to have doubts about an alliance with the anti-Islam party, wants to address the congress.
‘At the moment it is a question of wait and see,’ he told the paper. ‘But that is not the same as wait and having nothing else to say about the matter.’
Opposition to the PVV has already cost CDA minister and MP Ab Klink his seat in parliament.

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