AMSTERDAM: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Friday shot down a political ally's proposal to abandon the euro and return to the guilder, saying it would be disastrous for the Netherlands' export-oriented economy.
Populist politician Geert Wilders, who’s Freedom Party provides crucial support for the minority coalition in parliament, said his party was studying whether it was in the long-term economic interest for the Dutch to return to the guilder, the Telegraaf daily reported earlier on Friday.
Wilders said his party would find a reputable international agency to research whether the Netherlands should return to using the guilder.
"A return to the guilder would be a recipe for disaster," Rutte told reporters at his weekly press conference after cabinet meetings in The Hague.
Wilders said that if the research showed that abandoning the euro was in the best interests of the country, his party would call for a referendum on a departure from the single currency.
"The cabinet is frightening us by saying the lights will go out if we step outside of the euro, and of course that will cost money," Wilders told the paper.
"But I want to know if returning to the guilder is in the long-term economic interest of our country."
Rutte told reporters that Wilders was free to do the research but that a return to the euro would be a "bad idea for the Netherlands," which was committed to the euro currency.
Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager also reiterated the Dutch commitment to the euro earlier on Friday when he stressed the importance of stability and peace, speaking on a local radio programme.
"This government is very clear and firm about its continued support for the euro currency, which is best for all Dutch people," De Jager told Dutch radio on Friday.
Dutch taxpayers have grown increasingly resentful of the high cost of bailing out the euro zone's more profligate members, with recent opinion polls showing that they are pessimistic about the prospects for the single currency zone, and fear Italy or Spain would be next in line for a bailout.
According to an opinion poll published on Nov. 6 in the Netherlands, 58 percent of the people polled said they wished the country had stuck with the guilder.
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