DISAGREEMENTS OVER THE BUDGET The Dutch government has resigned

• The Euro depreciated

The Dutch government, led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, resigned yesterday, following the disagreements over the cuts of the country's budgetary spending, according to the European norms, the information service of the Hague government announces.

After yesterday's meeting with the Dutch cabinet, Rutte met with Holland's Queen Beatrix, who accepted his resignation, after he presented the situation to her.

Rutte has a speech scheduled for today before the Parliament, concerning the cut of the budget expenses, and of the schedule for the new elections.

We remind that the talks of the Dutch officials concerning the measures to cut the budget deficit failed on Saturday, after seven weeks of negotiations, which raises questions over the country's future commitments.

The negotiations between Rutte's liberal party, the Christian Democrats of the CDA and the PVV, the far-right party led by Geert Wilders, were supposed to allow saving 16 billion Euros on the 2013 budget, in order to allow the country to comply with the European norms concerning the public deficit. Wilders did not agree to the measures, as he felt that they would have resulted in a significant drop of the purchasing power of the Dutch citizens.

Moreover, Geert Wilders did not agree to the cut of the state pensions, and the raise of the retirement age from 66 to 65.

"We don't want the pensioners to suffer for the sake of the dictators in Brussels", Wilders said.

Even though Holland has a relatively low level of public debt, the country's economy is in a recession, and the budget deficit for the current year is estimated at 4.6% of the GDP, above the 3% limit stipulated by the European norms.

The Euro lost ground following the announcement of the resignation of the Dutch cabinet. At 10:21, on the New York market, the Euro had an exchange rate of 1.3107 dollars, down 0.9% compared to last Friday.