Dutch PM in row with Kroes over EU constitution debate
MARK BEUNDERMAN
12.10.2006 @ 09:53 CET
EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS - Dutch commissioner Neelie Kroes has clashed with her country's prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende after she blamed the Dutch government for not contributing to the debate on EU institutional reform.
The Dutch commissioner on Monday (9 October) held a speech in The Hague in which she strongly criticised the government for being silent on the future of Europe, after Dutch voters last year overwhelmingly rejected the EU constitution.
Ms Kroes said that EU institutional reform has "no priority" for the Balkenende government of which her own liberal VVD party forms a part, according to Dutch daily De Telegraaf.
"Also outside the Netherlands, the cabinet does not speak out. But if we do not take part in the discussions, decisions will be taken for us," she stated amid a re-emerging debate on the EU on what to do with the shelved constitution.
"Except from everyone asking me whether it is really true that there will be a paedophile party taking part in the elections, people are perplexed by the passive attitude of the Netherlands," she added.
But the criticism from the commissioner was not appreciated by Mr Balkenende, who himself lobbied hard in 2004 to get Ms Kroes to scoop Brussels' heavyweight competition portfolio.
In a parliamentary debate on Tuesday, the prime minister characterised Ms Kroes' intervention as "cheap" and "empty."
"Empty, because she does not offer any alternative and cheap, because it is easy to say that things are not right," Mr Balkenende explained.
Deafening silence
Ms Kroes' remarks echo broader criticism in Brussels circles on The Hague's deafening silence after the shock result of the Dutch June 2005 referendum which effectively killed the EU constitution after France's "no" a couple of days earlier.
Meanwhile in the ongoing Dutch election campaign ahead of 22 November elections, the EU debate has so far been notably absent with parties instead focusing their battle on pensions, child care and health.
France, by contrast, has already seen the two leading candidates for next year's presidential elections make proposals on the future of the EU with centre-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy making headlines by proposing a mini-treaty and socialist contender Segolene Royal proposing to reform the EU's stability and growth pact.
But Mr Balkenende stressed that Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal did not speak on behalf of France. "They are not the French government or the French president," he said.
He also stressed that other countries had not been that clear on their positions either.
"The [upcoming] German presidency does discuss certain issues, but from nowhere it is being specified what is going to happen, what the content is," he said despite parliamentarians noting that Berlin has been pretty clear in saying it wants to stick to the text of the EU constitution as much as possible.
"In other words, the image that the Netherlands is behind is beside the truth. It is simply not true," the prime minister concluded.
Risk of second Dutch 'no'
Meanwhile, the outcome of the November elections in the Netherlands could prove crucial to the fate of any new EU treaty - despite the issue not figuring prominently in the campaign.
Polls currently show a neck-and-neck race between Mr Balkenende's Christian Democrats and the Labour opposition, led by Wouter Bos.
Mr Bos has said he backs another referendum on a new EU treaty, involving the risk of another Dutch "no". He could form a coalition with the leftist Socialist Party which also wants a second referendum and is among the most eurosceptic of Dutch parties.
By contrast, Mr Balkenende's Christian Democrats as well as his coalition partner, the Liberals, have indicated they dislike the idea of another popular poll on EU treaty changes.
