Nederland maakt zich hard voor veto over Europese financiën (en)

The Dutch Government will fight for its right to veto European Union budget decisions, according to the financial newspaper, Het Financieele Dagblad.

The newspaper quotes the Dutch Europe Minister, Atzo Nicolaï, as saying, "We are very modest where other issues are concerned, but on the issue of the EU financial perspectives we will not be modest".

Mr Nicolaï declared the financial veto a question of national interest, because "we are the biggest net payer in the EU". The Netherlands is the biggest net contributor relative to the size of its economy.

According to Het Financieele Dagblad, only a few EU member states support the Dutch position. The majority of European countries favour majority decisions over the EU budget, as proposed in the Draft Constitution.

Underlining Dutch "modesty" in other issues, Mr Nicolaï said that the Netherlands has now fully abandoned its former resistance against a permanent EU president and European Commissioners without voting rights.