A new Dutch government with a taste for Europe
The Netherlands has long resisted collective EU spending, but that is changing
ORDINARILY, WHEN the EU favours a flood of collective spending, the Dutch put their collective finger in the dyke. In 2020 the Netherlands rallied a group of small, rich countries (the “frugal four”) to oppose the EU’s covid recovery fund. They eventually gave in, but not before Wopke Hoekstra, the then finance minister, insulted southern Europeans for lacking budget discipline. This week a new Dutch government took office. It comprises the same parties as the previous one, yet its stance on the EU is far more relaxed.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Unclogging Europe”
Europe January 15th 2022
From the January 15th 2022 edition
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