The tax agreement reached between the two coalition parties will not be made public yet, prime minister Mark Rutte said on Wednesday evening.

Speaking in Brussels during an EU summit with Caribbean and Latin American leaders, Rutte said publishing the deal would lead to it ‘being torn apart’.

‘If you publish the document, everyone will react to the elements they don’t like,’ he said. ‘For this to succeed, it has to be dealt with behind closed doors.’

The coalition needs the agreement of opposition parties to ensure its tax reforms are passed in the upper house of parliament, where it does not have a majority.

The deal stills need finalising but the parties are ‘very close’, the prime minister said. After that, talks will start with opposition parties in order to win their support.

These are likely to be the Christian Democrats and Liberal democratic party D66, who together can ensure a senate majority.

The agreement is likely to include a more realistic assumed return on investment for the asset tax, simplifying the tax on motoring, cuts in the number of deductibles and changes in the way housing, healthcare and childcare benefits are administered.