MPs voted unanimously to conduct the report over concerns the European Central Bank’s low interest rates are hurting savers in the Netherlands. It will examine whether it is technically possible for the Netherlands to withdraw from the currency.
The inquiry’s results are not due until after parliamentary elections in March, when Geert Wilders’s Eurosceptic anti-Islamisation party is likely to make large gains as part of the spread of populism across Europe.
De Dagelijkse Standaard reports the motion was tabled by Pieter Omtzigt from the establishment conservative Christian Democrats, possibly as an attempt to outflank Mr Wilders and take supporters back from the Party of Freedom.
Mr Wilders has promised a referendum euro membership if he takes power in March, with polls suggesting his party could emerge as the largest in the Dutch parliament. However, it is likely other parties will form a coalition to stop him becoming Prime Minister and keep the Party of Freedom out of office.
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