The first day of the budget debates was dominated by one liners, sarcastic comments and one upmanship. So what have they been saying? A few quotes from the battlefield.

‘My colleague Wilders counted the number of times the word ‘Europe’ cropped up in the budget. He was shocked. It’s like being surprised to hear the weatherman pronounce the word ‘rain’ during this wet summer. (CDA parliamentary leader Sybrand van Haersma Buma)
‘Soon a pair of antlers mounted on a wall will classify as ‘nature’’. (D66 leader Alexander Pechtold on cutbacks affecting the management of green spaces)
‘I am telling you that when Brussels see De Jager and Rutte coming they quickly shuffle their papers into their bags. There they are, the duo of them and us. The duo of the 50m mistake. It’s this sort of bungling that puts the Netherlands, which stood at the basis of Europe, at the back of the cue.’ ( Pechtold)
‘It is my contention that Ms Sap has never been quite plugged in herself’. (Wilders on Jolande Sap’s demonstration of how to pull a plug, an encouragement to Wilders to pull the plug on the cabinet) (PVV leader Geert Wilders)
‘Autumn is coming. This cabinet reminds me of my two teenagers. No matter how hard it rains they will not put on their waterproofs. It is uncool.’ (Jolande Sap, GroenLinks parliamentary leader)
‘The cabinet is working hard to make The Netherlands a better country. My compliments. But the sweetest of the sweet is that the left is not in charge.’ (Wilders)
‘The Greeks don’t care about the rules. And who can blame them. The euro doesn’t care about the rules either.’ (Wilders)
‘Get back to your roots. It’s the economy stupid. No cutbacks without a clear vision.’ (Pechtold)
‘Cohen is a fine one to talk. He’s the big facilitator.’ (Wilders)
‘Wilders is like a little child that doesn’t want to go to school.’ (PvdA leader Job Cohen).
‘Cohen is the cabinet resident poodle.’ (Wilders).
‘Do we want to go back to the days when the size of someone’s wallet determined the state of his teeth?’ (SP leader Emile Roemer)