AMSTERDAM — Mainstream pro-European parties looked set to dominate the parliamentary election under way in the Netherlands on Wednesday, dispelling concerns that radical eurosceptics might gain sway in a core euro zone country and push to quit the European Union or flout its budget rules. But the Netherlands is likely to remain an awkward, tough-talking member of the single currency area, strongly resisting transfers to euro zone debtors, regardless of whether caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberals or the centre-left Labour Party of Diederik Samsom win the most seats. Opinion polls on Tuesday showed the Liberals and Labour on 36 seats each or the Liberals fractionally in front, with the hard-left Socialists and the far-right anti-immigration Freedom Party fading in third and fourth place respectively. That makes it more likely, though not certain, that Rutte, with the strongest international profile, will stay as premier. Early morning commuters at Amsterdam's central station were among the first to vote, popping into a still-closed art deco cafe by the railway platform before catching trains to work. Nienke van Zaambeek, a psychologist, had voted for GreenLeft, saying she was worried about the impact of liberalization in the health care sector. “The influence of private companies is getting ever bigger, and the right-wing government has been in favor of more privatization.” The final days of campaigning became a two-horse race between Rutte, 45, a former Unilever human resources manager dubbed the “Teflon” prime minister because of his ability to brush off disasters, and the energetic Samsom, 41, a former Greenpeace activist whose debating flair wowed voters. Both leaders voted early, Samsom with his wife and children in the university town of Leiden, and Rutte alone in a polling station inside his old primary school in The Hague. Rutte repeated his party's commitment to fiscal discipline. “We have asked Brussels (for deficit limits), and we are doing it...not because of Brussels, but because we believe it is crucial for economic growth,” he said. The far-right populist Geert Wilders, who criticizes Europe and Muslim immigration, also voted in The Hague, accompanied by his state-provided protection officers. Both Liberals and Labour have played down talk that they will end up in coalition, together with one or two smaller parties. But parliamentary arithmetic suggests this is the most probable outcome given a highly fragmented political landscape. Still, about a fifth of the 12.5 million voters said they were undecided, leaving room for surprises. The Netherlands is one of the few triple-A rated countries left in Europe and a long-standing ally of Germany in demanding strict adherence to fiscal discipline. The election was seen as a barometer of northern European stamina - both for austerity and for bailouts to keep the single currency bloc intact. Thrifty Dutch taxpayers are frustrated at demands for belt-tightening, especially the steady erosion of their cherished welfare state and pensions, while having to stump up billions of euros to rescue what they see as profligate budget sinners. “People have become negative about Europe because we give so much money to Greece and other countries and at the same time we are aware of the fact that we badly need money here to pay for schools, for the army and everything,” Jaap Paauwe, a professor of management at Tilburg University, told Reuters. As the Dutch voted, Germany's Constitutional Court gave a green light for the country to ratify the euro zone's new rescue fund and budget pact but also veto powers to parliament over any future increases in the size of the fund. The court rejected requests from eurosceptics and leftists who argued Germany was too exposed to unlimited financial liability. With the focus on the euro zone crisis and its impact on the domestic economy, Europe took centre stage during the campaign. Employers' groups representing big businesses such as consumer electronics giant Philips as well as small and medium-sized firms that form the backbone of the Dutch economy ran a campaign highlighting the benefits of EU membership. The main employers' group hung a banner outside its head office in The Hague proclaiming: “Vote for Europe and your job.” In a pamphlet distributed to voters entitled “The Netherlands earns its living from Europe”, business groups said the export-dependent economy would lose 90 billion euros a year in sales without the euro and the EU's internal market. In contrast, one of the biggest unions posted a cartoon on its website showing the electoral battleground as the Last Chance Saloon with caricatures of Rutte and his allies stalking the saloon bars in the Wild West. — Reuters
