Mr Rutte also clashed with Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki as cracks began to emerge in EU unity on a range of subjects, including migration and taxation. Meanwhile, Mr Morawiecki himself appeared to have a dig at Ireland in a broadside against countries he described as tax havens as squabbles continued to break out among member states. Mr Rutte also said he was under pressure domestically to explain why the Netherlands was implementing measures in accordance with EU budget rules, while Italy, which wants to run a deficit of 2.4 percent of GDP for the next three years, was not.
Italy’s debt, at 131 percent of GDP, is proportionally the second highest in the eurozone after Greece’s, and the EU is concerned Italy’s plans will increase the figure still further.
Mr Rutte added: “We want to have our house in order, not because some European treaty requires this from us but this is creating distrust between north and south and given those dividing lines.
“I’m not optimistic about whether we can achieve on competitiveness, on reform and on climate change.”
In an apparent reference to countries in eastern Europe, Mr Rutte also said western EU members had shouldered the burden of the refugee crisis.
Mr Morawiecki countered by saying his country had welcomed “millions” of refugees migrating from Ukraine.
On the subject of Italy, Mr Morawiecki said contrasted the EU’s stance on Italy – whose budget the European Commission has described as “a particularly serious case of non-compliance” and has initiated a process which could ultimately lead to fines – with that of France, which has been given the green light to run a one-off, budget-busting deficit of more than three percent in the financial year 2019/2020.
He said the EU “should apply the same standards for different member states”.
Poland – which has also faced censure from the Commission over proposed reforms which critics fear could undermine the independence of the judiciary – broke ranks over the subject of the Irish backstop earlier this week, with the country’s foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz suggesting a five-year time limit as a way to break the Brexit deadlock.
And Mr Morawiecki also risked incurring the wrath of Dublin with comments about taxation.
He said: “There are tax havens in Europe which abuse their taxation systems to the detriment of other countries. And we should stop this because this is not helping the European Union to build trust towards each other.
“I would be in favour of eliminating all tax havens from Europe because this would bring a level playing field.”
He said he was a supporter of a so-called digital tax on big tech companies, an idea which Ireland opposes.
Ireland has faced criticism for its low corporate tax rate to attract multinational companies such as Google.
However, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar defended his country’s taxation system, saying: “We are forever closing tax loopholes”.
He said he opposed the digital tax because it taxed revenues as opposed to profits, adding: “The principles have to be that the tax is where value is created – not where there is turnover.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May is not at the even, in Switzerland, as she prepares for Tuesday’s crunch Brexit vote in the Commons.