Dutch PM wants to kick out faulty countries

A taboo may have been broken. “Rutte [Dutch PM] first to threaten with expulsion from eurozone”, headlines De Volkskrant. In a letter to the Dutch parliament, the Prime Minister writes that if euro countries systematically fail to comply with budgetary rules, they can take the option to leave the euro. Writing in the Financial Times on September 8 Rutte and his Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager made it clearer: "In the future, the ultimate sanction can be to force countries to leave the euro." The Dutch government, known, according to NRC Handelsblad, as the “naggers of Europe” on questions of budget discipline, has also suggested that there should be an independent European budget commissioner. “The ultimate punishment of a forced exit is, according to the government, something for the long run. A change in the European treaty would take years […] In the short term it is suggesting a special euro commissioner for budget discipline with extensive powers”, writes De Volkskrant. Finland and Germany support the plan for the special commissioner, says De Jager.