Dutch parliament backs new EFSF powers

Financial Times
October 6, 2011

The Dutch parliament has approved an overhaul of the eurozone’s rescue fund, the European financial stability facility, bringing the region one step closer to full ratification of the fund’s expanded role.

With the Netherlands on board, 15 of the 17 eurozone member states have now approved the expansion of powers that the EFSF needs to implement the Greek rescue package agreed to by leaders at a July 21 summit.

But the debate over the vote showed the Netherlands remains sharply divided over aid to weak eurozone countries and on the issue of giving more power to European institutions to respond to the crisis.

Parliamentarians clashed with each other and with Jan Kees de Jager, finance minister, over whether they would continue to have a veto over future moves by the EFSF. Many worried that the insistence of the German Bundestag on retaining a veto over any new EFSF measures threatens to create a two-tier structure, with some eurozone states’ parliaments holding veto rights and others not.

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