Dutch parliament urges government not to join EU defence plan

Amsterdam: A narrow majority in the Dutch parliament on Tuesday urged the government not to join recently agreed EU plans to strengthen European defence through laxer fiscal rules and joint borrowing.

European leaders including Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof last week hailed proposals to give EU member states fiscal flexibility on defence spending, and to jointly borrow up to 150 billion euros ($160 billion) to lend to EU governments to spend on their militaries.

But three of the Dutch government coalition’s four parties backed a motion by a conservative opposition group that objected to the financing arrangements.

The motion is non-binding and it is unclear how the government will respond.

The European Commission is currently detailing the plans, which could be decided with a qualified majority of EU governments – so no single country could block them.