Finnish and Dutch Government budgets in the Eurocrisis: between fanaticism and belief in fair play

Autumn is a time for new plans to be made for the next year in national governments. Usually these new plans follow estimates by the national statistics office or the national central bank. This post compares the reactions of governments of Finland and the Netherlands, two of the remaining triple-A countries in the Eurozone, regarding the need to cut deficits. These two countries have seen similar budget negotiations this year, although their institutional set-up is in many ways quite different. Contrasting these two countries reveals different reactions to both government debt levels and ‘breaking the rules’ on budget deficits.