Dutch want ‘verifiable and transparent’ figures to check €642m surcharge

Finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Tuesday he wants the European Commission to make public all the figures used to calculate surcharges and rebates for European member states.

The minister told MPs he can only assess whether the Dutch surcharge of €642m is reasonable when all the facts are on the table.

The surcharge is based on a recalculation of Dutch economic figures going back years. The minister said he did not doubt the way the national statistics office CBS had come up with the figures, but that he wanted to know what other countries have done.

‘To this day, we have no insight into the way the total has been divided up,’ he told MPs. ‘I want verifiable and transparent figures,’ website nu.nl quotes him as saying.

In addition, Dijsselbloem said the December 1 deadline for payment is too short.

Earlier this week, Dijsselbloem was quoted as saying the Netherlands will pay the surcharge if it proves to be justified. British prime minister David Cameron, faced with a €2.1bn bill, has already said he will not pay.