The left-right Dutch coalition government has reached agreement on a €6bn austerity package designed to cut the budget deficit to under 3% next year.

Finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters on Tuesday he is ‘happy that we have already reached a deal’.

‘We are now going to put the plans to paper and they will be published in September on budget day,’ the minister said.

Deputy prime minister Lodewijk Asscher also declined to go into details. ‘It is clear that we have reached agreement as a coalition. Now it is up to the cabinet and then the printer,’ he said. ‘We have nothing to say about the contents.’

Leaks

Under eurozone rules, the Dutch budget deficit should be below 3% next year. Government forecasts put the likely figure at 3.9% in 2013 if no further cuts in spending are made.

Some of the plans, including a pay freeze for public sector workers and scrapping the inflationary increase in the basic tax bands, have already been made public.

According to the Telegraaf, the cuts will mean a 1% reduction in spending power across the board.

The paper also says the government is planning to allow the well-off to make a tax-free gift of up to €100,000 to family or friends to help pay off their mortgage or renovate the property.

Nos television says the government is planning to unify and simplify the current system of housing, child and healthcare benefits