The VVD is politically in heavy weather. And then the title of the election program is also Stronger from the storm. As party chairman Eric Wetzels opens the Congress of the Liberals in Den Bosch on Saturday morning, he finds that that title not only applies to the problems of the Netherlands, but also to the VVD itself. “We are now in a political storm where we will come out stronger. We need each other, we have to support each other.”
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The VVD election congress comes after a summer full of political problems. First, the Cabinet Schoof fell with the PVV, a sensitive political collaboration that VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz deliberately visited. Then Yesilgöz was discredited by a tweet about singer Douwe Bob, whom she first accused of “hatred” and later apologized. In the opinion polls, the VVD started a steady decrease, from the current 25 seats in the Lower House to around fifteen. Voter research shows that many voters, including many VVD people, find the style of Yesilgöz too polarizing.
No party leadership
Despite the criticism, there was no party leader change and so there is a lot at stake this Saturday in Den Bosch, for Yesilgöz himself and the party. When VVD members walk into the Brabanthallen in the morning, the cheerfulness and also optimism for the liberals dominate or not. “The only way is up,” say several VVD people about the bad score in the polls. Although many VVD members also have to admit that it will be difficult for Yesilgöz to reverse the negative image of her leadership.
In the morning, outgoing ministers Ruben Brekelmans (Defense) and Vincent Karremans (Economic Affairs) open the program in the main hall. Within the VVD, the two ministers are the ‘Crown Princes’ that Yesilgöz can follow as party leader after a poor election results. Brekelmans and Karremans, both popular among VVD members, already get a major role in this campaign. Within the cabinet they also do portfolios – defense and economy – which are of great importance for the VVD in the campaign: on both themes the voter often trusts the VVD the most.
Director
Brekelmans soon portrays one of the campaign messages that the VVD will use: internal unrest or not, the VVD remains a stable driver’s party.
About his (old) coalition partners PVV and NSC, Brekelmans says that he saw a ‘high amateurish content’ in the cabinet. And asked why he is on television so often, he says: “If there is a big crisis, people want to see a VVD member on TV who explains how it works.” Karremans mainly makes a call with the elections in sight to close the rows. “This is not a ChristenUnie congress, but I say here: unity!”
At lunch it appears that this unit is not there, especially when it comes to the attitude towards other parties. Joost Hoebink from Arnhem, for example, hopes the number 33 on the list of candidates, that the VVD will stop “spastically” about collaboration with GroenLinks-PvdA. “After the elections we will soon be around with Timmermans. The VVD can work well with him in these geopolitics uncertain times. If you look at our most successful cabinets, Purple-I and Rutte-II, then that was always with the left.”
A little further on, VVD members of Classical Liberal, a right-wing-conservative group within the party, walk around with buttons in the form of a traffic sign with a line through an arrow that turns left. “Forbidden to turn left,” explains Ibo Gülzen, a VVD member from The Hague. Classic Liberal wants the VVD to exclude GroenLinks-PvdA as a cooperation partner in addition to the PVV. “If you exclude Wilders on the form, you have to exclude GroenLinks-PvdA on the content. They are so diametral towards us, especially when it comes to the role of the government. They only want to spend more more, but the money is up.”
Chimney
The afternoon program starts with the speech of Yesilgöz, who does not read from an autocue at a congress for the first time, but speaks out of the head with some cheat sheets. She is visibly nervous, the face tightly tense, has difficulty formulating smoothly, even though her story is more spontaneous than usual this time. Yesilgöz starts with a bridged Mea Culpa over her tweet towards singer Douwe Bob. “That was a mistake of mine that I corrected much too late, that really should have been better.”
After that, Yesilgöz promises “no campaign texts or an election speech”, but a personal and own substantive story, exactly what many VVD people present hoped for in advance. Yesilgöz talks about her fight against anti -Semitism, “what we should never find normally.” She draws attention to violence against women and says that with the murder of the 17-year-old Lisa “something has definitely been broken in our society.” She also focuses on traditional VVD themes such as the economy, by saying that companies ‘choke on rules’. Behind her is party mate Bente Becker, who nods eagerly in almost every sentence that says Yesilgöz.
What is also striking is that Yesilgöz attacks other political parties less directly. For example, she says that “there are parties who want the homeowner to pay for our safety,” in which she indirectly attacks the CDA, who wants to reduce the mortgage interest deduction. But the name of the popular CDA leader Henri Bontenbal, a direct competitor, does not fall.
Ultimately, Yesilgöz cannot suppress her old reflex to put GroenLinks-PvdA away. She repeats her statement from the previous congress that GroenLinks “torn the PvdA hard from the middle”. According to Yesilgöz, a cabinet with VVD and GroenLinks-PvdA cannot lead to a stable administration in this and her party may prefer to go into opposition. The VVD leader continues to hope for a “right-wing-liberal” coalition with parties such as CDA, D66, BBB and/or JA21.
In retrospect, VVD members are mainly relieved: the speech was more substantive and less polarizing than earlier times. If Yesilgöz retains that, the feeling among members is, the election results might be better than expected.