While the Volkskrant conjures up a disconcerting image of cabinet parties locked ‘in a deadly embrace’ with Geert Wilders, the Financieele Dagblad skips the imagery and bluntly suggests the cabinet trade in the PVV and form a new coalition. What the papers say now the budget is officially on the table.

The Volkskrant sees the fault lines deepening in the coalition and blames the cabinet’s dependence on the reluctant cooperation of the PVV. ‘The cabinet doesn’t present a decisive, united front. Incidental deals with the opposition won’t save it’, the paper predicts.
NS time table
The budget is dismissed as a ‘piece of fiction’ comparable to the NS time tables. The paper slates the fact that the government is heeding the call of European commissioner Neelie Kroes to ‘shut up’ about Greece. But Greece, the Volkskrant writes, is the elephant in the room. ‘The Greek crisis could come to a head next week. Or next month. Things would look dramatically different then. And at such a time it would be nice to have a government that can take decisive action’.
Meanwhile the prime minister remains anchored to the 18bn austerity package of the government accord. But the government’s macro-economic advisory body CPB has predicted another 5bn will be needed, even if nobody mentions Greece, and the Council of State has explained exactly why: things like subsidized child care and health care are becoming an unsustainable burden. And about the mortgage tax relief the Council states: ‘The government must stop over stimulating debt by businesses and private citizens.’
Deadly embrace
The cabinet parties are locked in ‘a deadly embrace’ with PVV and opposition alike, resulting in a serious lack of breathing space. This not exactly giving out a clear message to the public, the Volkskrant says. ‘People know that they will have to shoulder more of the financial burden themselves. But who will be courageous enough to tell them?’
Trade in Wilders
The FD suggests that the coalition parties replace Wilders with a new partner. ‘VVD and CDA are getting more pro- European by the minute and are distancing themselves from Wilders’, the paper writes. The Christian Democrats especially are still smarting from the electoral beating they received when they threw in their lot with the PVV and are anxious to raise the party profile. So are D66 and GroenLinks, who are ‘preening and flirting with reforms they know will not be acceptable to the PVV, like a change in the redundancy regulations.’ The PvdA voted in favour of the pension plan and has shown itself to be a willing candidate as well.
The FD predicts a new coalition could very well be ‘on the horizon’ ‘For the Christian Democrats elections are not an option. The party is not doing well enough in the polls. But a new partner replacing Wilders may just be the solution. If there is a new round of cutbacks next year the accord with Wilders will have to reviewed. And if he won’t go along with the cabinet’s proposals and withdraws his support, perhaps claiming that enough hasn’t been done about a stricter immigration policy, the time will have come for a national cabinet’. The word ‘national’ would chime well with the crisis atmosphere, FD thinks. Of course, the new partner could also be the right wing Christen Unie which would give the cabinet less of a headache.
Opposition divided
Trouw reports meanwhile that although the opposition parties agree that the cabinet is not delivering the goods they are themselves so divided that they haven’t been able to present a common alternative budget. ‘We are all different’, the paper quotes SP’s Ewout Irrgang. The PvdA would undo much of this cabinet’s cutbacks on the personal health budget, VAT on culture, child care and housing allowances. The Christen Unie, also a possible candidate for the Wilders spot according to the FD, states it ‘does not oppose the cabinet but would like to adjust or change what we think should be done differently.’