(Reuters) - Dutch Queen Beatrix has asked for parliament to be dissolved so that elections can be held on September 12, leaving the country open to months of political and economic uncertainty after the government collapsed in a row over budget cuts. The triple-A rated Netherlands has been one of the euro zone’s most stable countries but has been plunged into a political crisis, worrying financial markets focused on the region’s debt troubles. “The euro zone fiscal compact will lose what remains of its credibility if even one of the AAA members is politically unable to implement the austerity measures required to adhere to this rule,” Rabobank said in a research note. After losing his main ally, care-taker Prime Minister Mark Rutte is desperately trying to find support from opposition parties for budget cuts to put the country on track to meet the European Union’s deficit targets. The largest opposition parties on Tuesday refused to back his 14 to 16 billion euros package of cuts, and now he has less than a week to win support from smaller parties so he can present his plans to the EU by April 30. With doubts growing across Europe about the price of austerity, parties to Rutte’s left said trying to meet the EU’s deficit target of 3 percent of gross domestic product in 2013 would hurt the economy and the Dutch people. A statement issued by the prime minister’s office said the Queen of the caretaker government requested the dissolution of the House of Representatives, to allow elections to go ahead on September 12. Rutte’s centre-right government tendered its resignation on Monday after only 18 months in power and the elections will be the fifth in ten years. Rutte’s two-party coalition had relied on the Freedom Party headed by Geert Wilders, the eurosceptic, anti-Islam politician - to get legislation through parliament, even though the Freedom Party remained outside the government. But Wilders withdrew that support at the weekend after seven weeks of negotiations on the extra budget cuts, without which the deficit is forecast to reach 4.6 percent of GDP next year.
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The euro zone fiscal compact has lost what remained of its credibility
(Reuters) - Dutch Queen Beatrix has asked for parliament to be dissolved so that elections can be held on September 12, leaving the country open to months of political and economic uncertainty after the government collapsed in a row over budget cuts. The triple-A rated Netherlands has been one of the euro zone’s most stable countries but has been plunged into a political crisis, worrying financial markets focused on the region’s debt troubles. “The euro zone fiscal compact will lose what remains of its credibility if even one of the AAA members is politically unable to implement the austerity measures required to adhere to this rule,” Rabobank said in a research note. After losing his main ally, care-taker Prime Minister Mark Rutte is desperately trying to find support from opposition parties for budget cuts to put the country on track to meet the European Union’s deficit targets. The largest opposition parties on Tuesday refused to back his 14 to 16 billion euros package of cuts, and now he has less than a week to win support from smaller parties so he can present his plans to the EU by April 30. With doubts growing across Europe about the price of austerity, parties to Rutte’s left said trying to meet the EU’s deficit target of 3 percent of gross domestic product in 2013 would hurt the economy and the Dutch people. A statement issued by the prime minister’s office said the Queen of the caretaker government requested the dissolution of the House of Representatives, to allow elections to go ahead on September 12. Rutte’s centre-right government tendered its resignation on Monday after only 18 months in power and the elections will be the fifth in ten years. Rutte’s two-party coalition had relied on the Freedom Party headed by Geert Wilders, the eurosceptic, anti-Islam politician - to get legislation through parliament, even though the Freedom Party remained outside the government. But Wilders withdrew that support at the weekend after seven weeks of negotiations on the extra budget cuts, without which the deficit is forecast to reach 4.6 percent of GDP next year.
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Officials believe they have enough legal leeway to relax budget deficit targets for eurozone states without violating the Stability and Growth Pact, though the plans risk a serious showdown with Germany. "The Stability Pact is not stupid. There are elements of flexibility when growth is lower than expected," said a senior Commission strategist.
Current EU rules stipulate that every state must cut its deficit to 3pc of GDP by next year but this is not written in stone. "So long as a country is doing its homework and taking 'effective action', we can show some flexibility," the strategist said.
Marco Buti, director-general of economics at the Commission, said EU framework "leaves considerable scope for modulating the fiscal policy reaction" and "explicitly allows for the playing of automatic stabilisers" in response to shocks.
News that the economy contracted by 0.2% in the first three months of 2012 surprised the City, which had been confident that the UK had avoided two quarters of falling output – the technical definition of a recession. The return to recession so soon after the last one ended in 2009 makes it a "double-dip".
Although some analysts said the official data painted too pessimistic a picture of the economy and would probably be revised up, there were fears that the loss of output caused by the Queen's diamond jubilee bank holiday in June could result in a third quarter of declining activity.
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EASY lifestyle changes could help us all live happily and healthily to the age of 100 or more.
The key step is to follow the lead of simple villagers from a remote part of Sicily.
We should all eat a healthy “Mediterranean-style” diet, slashing levels of saturated fat and consuming high amounts of fruits and vegetables, research suggests.
The diet could add decades to lifespans and protect against heart disease and stroke as well as a number of other chronic diseases including cancer and dementia.
Scientists from the University of Palermo in Sicily studied people living in five villages in the island’s Sicani Mountains region.
There, four times as many people live to be over 100 than the national average.
The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Immunity & Ageing, found the centenarians tended to be physically active, non-obese, and small in stature.
To reach successful ageing it is advisable to follow a diet with low quantity of saturated fat and high amount of fruits and vegetables rich in phytochemicals.
The study authors
They live on a high intake of seasonal plant food and low amounts of meat, consuming low levels of refined carbohydrate, so eating no white bread and small amounts of pasta.
They don’t use sweeteners or consume sweet beverages, canned food frozen ready-prepared vegetables, biscuits, cakes or snacks.
They also have a substantial intake of olive and virgin olive oil from different local olive plants which seem to have important antioxidant properties.
The authors wrote: “To reach successful ageing it is advisable to follow a diet with low quantity of saturated fat and high amount of fruits and vegetables rich in phytochemicals.”
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