Prime minister Mark Rutte is one of 11 EU leaders to throw their weight behind a campaign to limit a planned increase in spending by the EU next year.

Attending his first EU summit as a national leader, Rutte said the planned 6% rise was ‘crazy’. The increase has been agreed by the European Commission and approved by the parliament.
The Netherlands alone is being forced to cut spending by €18bn and people are being expected to accept a pay freeze, the prime minister told reporters.

Unacceptable

In a letter to the European Council president, Herman Van Rompuy, the 11 leaders say the proposal is ‘especially unacceptable at a time when we are having to take difficult decisions at national level to control public expenditure’.
The letter was signed by the Netherlands, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Slovenia and Estonia.
The statement went on to say that the 11 countries would be prepared to accept a rise of up to 2.9%.
The Netherlands had favoured a spending freeze but this was the ‘most we could achieve,’ Rutte is quoted as saying in the Telegraaf.
Talks on the EU budget will continue over the next few weeks.
For the BBC report on this, click here