Dutch PM starts tough task of choosing coalition

THE HAGUE: Work to build a new ruling Dutch coalition started yesterday, after conservative leader Mark Rutte bucked a European trend by winning an election despite pushing through tough austerity measures to counter the continent’s devastating debt crisis.
"Now we have to focus on forming, as soon as possible, a stable government," Rutte said as lawmakers from his free-market VVD party cheered.
Rutte later said he would not discuss coalition negotiations, to avoid jeopardizing the sensitive talks. Rutte’s party won 10 extra seats to give it 41 overall in the 150-seat House of Representatives. His closest rival — and now most likely coalition partner — Diederik Samsom of Labor saw his party grow by nine seats to 39. It remains unclear when the two will meet to discuss joining forces.
The major gains for two of this nation’s strongest supporters of the European Union were a significant boost for EU unity and a heavy defeat for Euro-skeptics.
Firebrand populist Geert Wilders was hammered at the polls, losing nine of his Freedom Party’s 24 seats after campaigning to pull the Netherlands out of the 27-nation European Union and dump its shared currency, the euro. The far-left Socialist Party was unchanged at 15 seats.
Guy Verhofstadt, who leads the conservative Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament, said the results would resonate well beyond Dutch borders.
"They are a slap in the face of anti-European extremism and populism," he said yesterday. "Dutch voters clearly chose to reinforce pro-European measures."
Rutte, a 45-year-old piano-playing bachelor known for his boundless optimism, somehow reversed the tide.
"It is a very strong message from the Dutch public that they are not punishing parties that want to be credible with their solutions," said Piotr Kaczynski of the Center for European Policy Studies.
Rutte and Samsom will now have to see if they can build a coalition.
That may not be easy. Rutte called Labor’s policies "dangerous for the Netherlands" during the campaign, while Samsom says he wants to see a more social platform from the next government.
"The direction can and must change," Samsom told supporters in Amsterdam. "Because the right-wing policies of the last two years cannot continue."
The leader of the House of Representatives was meeting party leaders Thursday afternoon to investigate possible coalitions and was to report to Queen Beatrix later in the day.
Analysts say Rutte and Samsom should be able to reach agreement, though some say they may need a third centrist party in a coalition because VVD and Labor together do not command a majority in the upper house of Parliament, meaning they could have trouble passing new legislation.