Dutch PM faces no-confidence vote over Greece bailout

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte today faced a grilling in parliament, and a possible no-confidence vote, for his cabinet's support for debt-ridden Greece's third international bailout.
Lawmakers in the 150-seat Lower House were recalled from summer recess to attend the debate in The Hague, where the opposition laid into the Dutch premier.
Rutte "betrayed his electorate" by breaking his promise that no more money would go to Greece, far-right eurosceptic politician Geert Wilders told lawmakers.
"Every time they believe Europe's 'junkie', Greece... The Greeks get their money, not the Dutch elderly, but the Greeks," Wilders said.
The Dutch cabinet, led by Rutte's liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and its junior Labour (PVdA) partner, has backed the latest emergency bailout of up to 86 billion euros (USD 96 billion), approved by eurozone finance ministers last Friday.

The cabinet -- which includes Eurogroup chairman and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, does not need parliament's approval to give the unprecedented loan the thumbs up, to which The Netherlands is expected to contribute almost 5.0 billion euros.

Rutte's own VVD party, which has previously said it would not support the bailout if it did not have the International Monetary Fund's backing, yesterday grudgingly agreed to back the package after a lengthy meeting behind closed doors.
The IMF, whose chief Christine Lagarde has called the plan "a very important step forward", has said it will wait until October to decide whether to participate.

"The fact remains that it's difficult for everybody," Rutte told the NOS national news broadcaster yesterday during an informal cabinet meeting.
"In the end however it's not only in Greece's interest, but in Europe's interest for it to be carried through," Rutte said.
The liberal premier has come under fire for breaking a 2012 election promise in which he said no more money would go to Athens after two previous bailouts.
Wilders, who has bitterly opposed financial aid to Greece, was to ask for a vote of no-confidence in Rutte's government.
Observers said that the motion was unlikely to pass, particularly now that Rutte's ruling VVD has given the plan its backing together with its Labour partner and progressive centrist opposition party D66.