Dutch left leader dismisses fines for EU deficit offenders

Dutch far-left leader Emile Roemer said Saturday he did not believe Brussels would impose fines on eurozone countries whose deficits rise above an EU target of three percent of GDP. "Thirteen of the 17 eurozone countries are above the three percent deficit," the eurosceptic leader of the Socialist Party (SP) wrote in his column, published on the party's website. "Who is going tell who what to do? Come on, let's use our minds and not become too obsessed with the agreed numbers," said Roemer, whose party has been the front-runner in some polls for September 12 parliamentary elections. "Rules are good, but we have to adjust to the realities of the moment. I am sure I'll get broad support in Europe for this," he said. Roemer this week told the Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad that, should the SP win, the Netherlands would not pay Brussels-imposed fines if its deficit strayed above three percent of gross domestic product. Having won 15 lower house seats in 2010 elections, the SP has been touted by at least three opinion polls in the past week as being ahead of Prime Minister Mark Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). The business-friendly VVD two years ago won with 31 seats, and Rutte formed a coalition with the smaller Christian Democrats. The support of the far-right Freedom Party of Geert Wilders gave them a majority in the 150-seat lower house. That coalition collapsed in April, when Wilders walked out of talks on budget cuts to steer the eurozone's fifth-largest economy below the deficit ceiling, forcing Rutte's government to resign and call fresh polls.