Prime minister Mark Rutte and PVV leader Geert Wilders clashed in parliament on Thursday afternoon, as Rutte urged his coalition ally to temper his language.

At one point the two men were shouting at each other across the parliamentary chamber, with Wilders telling Rutte to behave himself, the Telegraaf reported.
‘Behave yourself, man,’ Rutte answered. ‘You cannot call the Turkish prime minister a monkey’.
Rutte was referring to an incident last week in which a PVV MP described Recep Tavvip Erdogan as an ‘Islamic monkey’.
Reputation
Opposition MPs had earlier urged Rutte to distance himself from Wilders’ performance, highlighting the potential damage to the Netherlands reputation abroad.
Rutte also told MPs that Wilders attack on Labour leader Job Cohen on Wednesday overstretched the bounds of decency. Wilders’ accused Cohen of being Rutte’s lapdog
Cuts
The clashes came in the second day of debate on the government’s 2012 spending plans.
Earlier Rutte had said he accepted that bringing in all the spending cuts at once could have a detrimental affect on various groups of people and will introduce some of the cuts more slowly. He promised to ‘keep a close eye’ on the effects.
The cut in the personal care budget came in for particularly heavy criticism but Rutte said this, together with other social services such as special needs schools and help for the young handicapped, needed to be reformed. ‘If we do not cut them back for use by those who really need them, in ten years’ time they will be unaffordable and disappear altogether,’ he said.
Greece
The amount of money the Netherlands has agreed for the Greek bail-out also came in for severe criticism, with Labour leader Job Cohen once again pointing to Rutte’s mistake in the initial figure he quoted and anti-Islam PVV leader Geert Wilders asking for a referendum on the matter.
Rutte rebutted Cohen’s comments and refused to hold a referendum.
The cabinet has a plan B, C and D in case Greece goes bankrupt, Rutte said, but it is not possible to talk about them. He added that he has faith in the supervision of Greece by the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission.
Alienation
On the question of security, Rutte began by warning Wilders that he was alienating well-educated Moroccans with his rhetoric. He accepted that Moroccan and Antillian young men are over-represented in crime statistics but said they do not go to the mosque on Friday. ‘I ask myself if the un-Islamisation you’re demanding is the right kind,’ he said.
Street violence and the forming of a national police force had Socialist Party leader Emile Roemer commenting that merging police forces and shutting local police stations is not the solution because there will be no money. Rutte: ‘Money doesn’t solve everything.’
According to Alexander Pechtold, leader of left-wing liberals D66, this government’s mantra on crime is ‘harder, harder, stricter, stricter’.
Immigration
On immigration, Rutte said it is not government policy to stem the flow of immigrants, but he expects this to be the result of the stricter rules.
To remarks from Pechtold and GroenLinks leader Jolanda Sap that it is hard to believe the government is not investing in education, Rutte said it is not ‘per se a question of money but more of better management’.
Meanwhile, a new political barometre from research company Synovate shows how voting intentions have changed since two weeks ago.
For the governing partners and their alliance partner: VVD down two seats, Christian Democrats remain the same and PVV down one seat. For the opposition: Labour down one seat, D66 up two seats and GroenLinks and the ChristenUnie both up one seat.