Its government resigned on Monday because it couldn't agree a budget deal which would maintain the country's Triple-A rated credit status. That news shook investors and the financial markets into the bargain, but now the caretaker government has finally agreed on a workable solution to meet next Monday's EU deadline.

The Netherlands has always been something of a cheerleader for fiscal discipline among fellow Eurozone members, so a swift agreement was desperately needed to stave off any more international embarrassment. Dutch Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said: 'The most important thing is that we can tell the Netherlands that we don't pass the bill to the next generations, that our children and grandchildren will not have to pay for our bills, but that we will do it ourselves, because this is important, you can't continue to spend when there is no money coming in'

It was a fight to agree on 3% as the deficit reduction figure for next year – the EU's target ceiling. That'll be achieved, the government hopes, through a mix of cuts in social services, fewer tax breaks for workers travelling between office and home, higher taxes (including a 2% hike in VAT), and a two-year pay freeze for civil servants. And of that sound familiar?

This Dutch woman said: I think the leader of the Labour Party took the right position, I think it is very good of him. No is no, right. While this man says 'The 3%, I agree with it, to live up to those norms so we will not get fined by Europe. The earlier we clean up the mess, the better'

The Dutch government's macroeconomic forecaster, CPB, will double-check the proposals to make sure the forecasts are correct. So they're not out of the woods just yet.