Austerity For Other People

In Topsy-Turvy Land.

The Dutch government has taken a tough line on bailouts for Greece and given strong support to Germany’s efforts to force through a new pact on fiscal responsibility in the euro zone.

But the country’s domestic politics have been plunged into crisis because targets for the budget deficit, laid down by the European Union, were missed.

On Saturday it became clear that a package of measures that had been under negotiation for several weeks, intended to save about 14 billion euros, or $18 billion, would not be supported by the Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, a populist right-wing and anti-Islam campaigner. The proposal included spending curbs and tax increases.