Elections to choose a new Dutch government will be held on September 12, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Friday following his coalition's collapse after failed austerity talks. Rutte and his ministers quit Monday after his minority government and its far-right ally, the party of eurosceptic Geert Wilders, failed to agree on a plan to slash the budget to steer the eurozone's fifth-largest economy back below the EU deficit ceiling of three per cent, from last year's 4.7 per cent. The agreement, according to the coalition government consisting of Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the Christian Democrats, would have seen cuts amounting to 14.4 billion euros and brought the deficit down to 2.8 per cent next year. Rutte had told the Lower House on Tuesday he expected the elections on the announced date but it had to be set in stone by the outgoing cabinet on Friday. Although not part of the ruling coalition, Wilders' far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) had … [Read more...] about Dutch PM set polls for September