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DEMOCRACY
Dutch vote headed for pro-Europe coalition
by Staff Writers
The Hague (AFP) Sept 11, 2012


Despite a campaign marked by attacks on Brussels, the leading Dutch parties wound up efforts on Tuesday to sway undecided voters to elect a grudgingly Europe-friendly government.

Wednesday's vote is shaping into a battle between current Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberal VVD party and rising star Diederick Samsom's centre-left PvdA Labour party, but neither will be able to govern alone.

Latest opinion polls predict a middle-of-the-road coalition government involving the pro-austerity VVD and pro-stimulus PvdA will emerge once an expected 12.5 million voters cast their ballots.

"It is as good as set in stone that we will get a 'middle' government that will remain pro-Europe," political analyst Alfred Pijpers told AFP of the eurozone's fifth-largest economy.

Fiscally prudent Rutte's government has been allied to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, while Samsom's calls for stimulus echo those of France's Socialist President Francois Hollande, elected this year on similar promises.

Polls give both Rutte's VVD and the PvdA of former Greenpeace activist Diederik Samsom 35 seats in the 150-seat lower house.

But whatever shape the new government takes it will stick to helping Merkel crack the austerity whip on the backs of indebted southern European nations.

A coalition between the VVD, which garnered 31 seats in 2010 and the PvdA, which had 30, together with one or two smaller parties seems the most likely option to get a 76-seat majority.

Budget cuts in the founding EU member are already hitting Dutch pockets hard and weighing heavily on voters' minds. Analysts say at least one million voters have yet to decide who to vote for.

Party leaders will have one more chance to convince undecided voters when they face-off in a final live debate on Dutch television Tuesday night.

Both the Liberals and Labour are pro-Europe but because of cuts to pay for spendthrift eurozone nations, they are faced with an electorate that is increasingly negative towards Brussels although realistic about the impossibility of European disintegration.

"There is a general feeling -- although it's a perception -- that in Brussels it's about well-paid government officials with their interfering little rules," including in regards to Greece, said Bert van den Braak, a political analyst at Leiden University.

Rutte himself said in a debate Monday he would put the brakes on handing over further power to the European Union.

It was a spat over austerity measures to stay within a EU imposed deficit target that led to Rutte's coalition crashing in April.

"I am 'Mr No' when it comes to a Brussels that's expanding more and more," he said. Samsom announced last week he had telephoned Hollande to discuss the eurozone debt crisis, setting his compass clearly more towards France than Germany.

Van den Braak however said Rutte's anti-Europe rhetoric might change after the election once he is confronted with the political reality of tackling the debt crisis.

With opinion polls predicting a tight race, the focus Tuesday shifted towards the political duel between Rutte, 45 and Samsom, 41, for the position of prime minister.

But whether the VVD or PvdA wins, there will be no seismic shift in the Netherlands' relationship with Brussels, analysts said.

With months of horsetrading expected before a coalition is agreed, Van den Braak said: "The Netherlands simply has too much vested interest in Europe to leave it. It will continue on its current course... and that is the reality."

Germany Constitutional Court is meanwhile to rule Wednesday on the legality of two key eurozone's crisis tools -- a 500-billion-euro ($640-billion) rescue fund called the ESM, and the EU fiscal pact.

Observers say that should the German court order a legal review of parliament's recent approval of the measures, as wanted by many German citizens, it may also further aggravate anti-EU sentiment in the Netherlands.

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Netherlands votes and hopes for stable pro-Europe government
The Hague (AFP) Sept 12, 2012 - Dutch voters go to the polls Wednesday to elect a new government, craving stability to weather the relentless storm of the eurozone debt crisis at the expense of anti-Brussels extremist parties.

The fifth election in 10 years has shaped into a tight race between the ruling Liberal VVD party of pro-austerity Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the Labour PvdA of rising star and former Greenpeace activist Diederick Samsom.

Polls predict that both parties will send around 35 MPs to the 150-seat lower house, with other parties scrambling to be part of the eventual ruling coalition while Rutte and Samsom battle it out for the prime minister's job.

More than 12 million voters are eligible to take part and turnout is usually high at around 75 percent. Polls open at 7:30 am (0530 GMT) and close at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) with an estimated result expected shortly afterwards.

Firebrand far-right leader Geert Wilders brought down the last government in April after refusing to approve an austerity-driven budget and his PVV party is expected to lose seats this time round as well as any shot at power.

The PVV has switched its attacks from Muslims to Brussels, vowing to pull out of the euro and the EU itself if they come to power. But many Dutch voters and the political mainstream have decided that Wilders is simply unreliable.

The hard-left, eurosceptic Socialist Party led by Emile Roemer surged in August but his popularity ebbed after Samsom seized the initiative in a string of televised debates during which Roemer was perceived as hesitant.

Fiscally prudent Rutte's government has been allied to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, while Samsom's calls for stimulus echo those of France's Socialist President Francois Hollande, elected this year on similar promises.

Both parties have wheeled out anti-EU rhetoric during campaigning, but the Dutch export-based economy cannot afford to call into question membership in the bloc, where it sends 75 percent of its exports.

Despite German fears of losing a key ally, whatever shape the new government of the traditionally frugal Netherlands takes it will stick to helping Merkel crack the austerity whip on the backs of indebted southern European nations.

Germany's Constitutional Court is meanwhile to rule on Wednesday on the legality of two key eurozone crisis tools -- a 500-billion-euro ($640-billion) rescue fund called the ESM, and the EU fiscal pact.

Observers say that should the German court order a legal review of parliament's recent approval of the measures, as many German citizens want, it may also further aggravate anti-EU sentiment in the Netherlands.



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DEMOCRACY
Dutch Labour leader Samsom seen as PM after meteoric rise
Utrecht, Netherlands (AFP) Sept 8, 2012
Dutch Labour leader Diederik Samsom handed out roses and promised a new Europe as he campaigned Saturday to achieve what seemed impossible just weeks ago: become the Netherlands' next prime minister. "The Netherlands needs a party that understands that it's only with a properly functioning Europe that the Netherlands can function, only with a Europe that grows can the Netherlands have growth ... read more


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