The Labour party (PvdA) opposes the government’s plans to start preparations for an ABN Amro stock exchange flotation in 2013, MP Ed Groot says in Wednesday’s Financieele Dagblad.

MPs are due to debate finance minister Jan Kees de Jager’s exit strategy on Wednesday afternoon. ABN Amro was nationalised in the wake of the financial crisis in 2008.
‘I do not see the need to hurry up with privatisation,’ Groot said. ‘First let ABN Amro stand on its own two feet, without guarantees and state support.’ After all, France has state-owned banks. There’s no reason why the Netherlands shouldn’t have them too, the MP said.
While De Jager can count on the support of the two ruling parties to privatise the bank, alliance partner PVV will only support privatisation if the legal framework includes a guarantee against foreign takeovers, the paper says.
ABN Amro got into trouble when it was bought and broken up by a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland.