Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has taken on the mantle of ‘Dr No’ across the capitals of Europe after he took a tough stance on the EU’s coronavirus bailout fund. But in the Netherlands, most people supported his stance on EU integration.
At the talks, Rutte successfully led the ‘frugal five’ countries – the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Finland – in their battle to reduce the EU’s proposed coronavirus subsidies from €500 billion to €390 billion (£450 to £350 billion). The countries also ensured an economic conditions brake was attached to another €310 billion (£280 billion) in loans, which are expected to go mostly to Italy and Spain.
It was a tense set of talks in Brussels, with threatened walkouts, late nights and, for the first time in decades, no Britain fighting in the Netherlands’s corner. In fact, some wondered if the three-times Dutch Prime Minister was becoming ‘a new Thatcher’ in the UK’s absence.
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