Dutch Coalition Near Collapse          11/12 06:16

   

   THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- The ruling Dutch three-party minority 
coalition led by Prime Minister Rob Jetten appeared close to collapse Thursday, 
less than nine months into its four-year term, as a deal to support a tax plan 
for next year angered one of the coalition parties.

   Jetten's centrist D66 party and the center-right Christian Democrats reached 
the deal Wednesday with two center-left opposition parties to get the tax 
package -- a crucial part of the annual government budget -- through the Dutch 
parliament.

   But fellow coalition member the right-wing People's Party for Freedom and 
Democracy, or VVD, slammed it as a bad deal for the Netherlands and a breach of 
the coalition agreement the three parties hammered out in weeks of negotiations.

   Jetten skipped a European Union leaders' summit in Ireland to attend a 
debate in parliament about the tax measures.

   The parties that agreed the deal say it raises tax on the wealthy and cuts 
taxes for people with low incomes. PRO called that aspect of the deal a 
"millionaire's tax."

   After a meeting Wednesday night, VVD leader Dilan Yeilgz-Zegerius, who is 
also the Dutch defense minister, said her party was ambushed "by the fact that 
our coalition partners struck a deal with an opposition party."

   She called it "a poor proposal. Furthermore, it runs counter to the 
coalition agreement."

   She said that if the other coalition partners voted for the deal after the 
parliamentary debate Thursday, "we will at least need a fundamental reset."

   She did not elaborate on what that reset would mean for the future of the 
coalition.

   Christian Democrat leader Henri Bontenbal told national broadcaster NOS 
before the debate started that he wanted the coalition to survive and serve its 
full four-year term. "Preferably eight years," he added.

   If the government were to fall, it would likely pave the way for fresh 
elections next year, the fifth general election in less than a decade in the 
politically splintered Netherlands.

   The crisis echoes a similar impasse in neighboring Belgium, where Prime 
Minister Bart De Wever tendered his resignation to the king following a 
protracted crisis over the country's budget. King Philippe last Friday rejected 
the resignation and asked De Wever's coalition to resume negotiations.

   Jetten's government was a risky political experiment from day one, holding 
only 66 of the lower house of parliament's 150 seats. Jetten was sworn in in 
February as the Netherlands' youngest and first openly gay prime minister.

   He narrowly won an election in late October last year, securing the same 
number of seats as anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom, but 
with slightly more votes. The result was decided by a count of postal ballots.

   Jetten said when he took office that he wanted to usher in a new era of 
consensus politics in parliament after years of bickering between parties. But 
that has largely failed to materialize, with his coalition unable even to avoid 
internal divisions over its plans and opposition parties making tough demands 
in return for supporting legislation.

   That culminated in the deal Jetten's D66 party and the Christian Democrats 
struck with the center left parties PRO and Volt, enraging the VVD.