Dutch government pact cuts budget and bans burqa

30/09/2010 - 14:54

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Two Dutch centre-right political parties, supported by the anti-Islam Freedom Party, announced a coalition agreement on Thursday that calls for balancing the budget by 2015 and banning the burqa.

Liberals leader Mark Rutte, Christian Democrat leader Maxime Verhagen and Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders announced in a news conference the details of the pact, with plans for cumulative deficit cuts of 18 billion euros (15.5 billion pounds) by 2015.

In a nod to Wilders, the parties agreed to propose banning the burqa in the Netherlands and tightening immigration rules.

(Reporting by Marcel Michelson and Greg Roumeliotis; editing by Michael Roddy)