A number of the austerity measures agreed by the five-party coalition in April will be torn up by the VVD if it comes back to power after the general election, prime minister Mark Rutte told a party conference on Saturday.

‘We agreed a compromise that you will not find in our election manifesto,’ Rutte said in his speech. ‘We did not take the easy way out. The VVD never does that… we did what had to be done at the time.’
Rutte said he understood that people are worried about some of the cuts and referred to the reduced spending on childcare, the introduction of a tax on travel expenses and the increase in value-added tax.
Backbone
‘The measures we agreed to get the budget under control hit the hard-working Dutchman, the backbone of our society, as well,’ Rutte told the conference. ‘If the VVD has a say, we will replace a number of these measures. You will soon see this in our election manifesto.’
After the collapse of the alliance with the anti-immigration PVV, the minority coalition of the VVD Liberals and Christian Democrats, joined up with three minority parties to come up with a package of austerity measures. The pact was needed to reduce the budget deficit to under 3%, in line with monetary union rules, and had to be completed by the end of April.
Despite the initial euphoria about the deal, it is becoming increasingly unlikely many of the measures will ever be taken. The Netherlands elects a new lower house of parliament on September 12 and just six days later, the budget plans will be presented to MPs. This means the five-party coalition may not control a majority of seats, putting the entire package in doubt.

Uncertain times
During his speech, Rutte said he recognised the Netherlands is going through difficult and uncertain times. This is why the country needs political parties which will ‘take responsibility’, the prime minister said.
What is best for the Netherlands is not ‘more Europe’ and political union, the prime minister said. Nor is the best for the Netherlands leaving the EU and ‘retreating behind the dykes.’
What the Netherlands needs is a more thrifty Europe, which keeps to the rules and protects economic interests. Europe should ‘organise a few key tasks but not interfere with what we can organise ourselves,’ he said.
Criticism
On Sunday, D66 leader Alexander Pechtold and party stalwart Hans Wijers both criticised the prime minister for appearing to ditch part of the budget agreement.
Pechtold said Rutte is undermining his credibility by stating some parts of the deal will go. ‘A deal is a deal, especially when you have drawn it up yourself,’ he said. ‘This is not the way to govern a country.’