In The Hague, coalition talks between election winner Hart voor Den Haag by Richard de Mos and D66 have collapsed. Both parties said in statements on Saturday that the formation “has finally collapsed”.
It was already clear that the parties, together accounting for a majority, were having great difficulty reaching each other. De Mos stopped an earlier attempt more than a month ago because the substantive differences on some topics were “too great” to “responsibly take the step towards real negotiations.”
The main stumbling block is the plan for asylum reception in the former Haga Hospital in the chic Vogelwijk. The current council wants to temporarily house 450 asylum seekers there, which led to several turbulent demonstrations in recent months.
Hart voor Den Haag campaigned with the promise to stop the reception and put that demand on the table as a breaking point during the coalition negotiations. In the declaration the largest faction in the council says that the shelter is a “symbol” of the “current Hague asylum policy” that it is opposing.
D66 faction leader Yousef Assad says that Hart made “extreme demands” for The Hague. According to him, De Mos also wanted existing reception locations in the city to be closed. “We were prepared to discuss the numbers and duration of stay. But excluding asylum seekers in advance does not fit in with a constitutional state.”
His party imposed the condition that the new coalition must adhere to the Spread Act. He calls the closure of reception locations “inhumane” and says that the city is not meeting its task. “That is not how you as a local government deal with difficult issues.”
About right
Richard de Mos was not immediately available for comment on Saturday. In the statement, the group leader says that the atmosphere at the negotiating table was “good” and that there were no disturbed relations. According to him, the parties are “simply far too far apart” in terms of content.
With the promise of “ombudsman politics”, De Mos achieved a monster victory with sixteen seats at the municipal elections in March. He then promised to work energetically for a new city council and called on parties to leave behind the “division” that had marked The Hague’s politics until then.
In 2022, when Hart voor Den Haag also emerged as the largest faction, De Mos was sidelined by other parties due to the criminal investigation into corruption allegations.
De Mos now wants to try on the right to have his party take a seat in the new city council. He sees opportunities for discussions with VVD, CDA and Denk. These parties, together accounting for a narrow majority in the council, are, according to the politician, “much closer to each other” than Hart voor Den Haag and D66.
Chances
The road to a new coalition is not only proving difficult in The Hague. In Rotterdam, the VVD surprised the city council on Friday when, seemingly out of nowhere, the party pulled the plug on negotiations with PRO, D66 and Denk. According to party chairman Tim Versnel, “the differences turned out to be too great” to reach an agreement.
Here too, it was clear from the start that the conversations would not be easy. PRO and VVD in particular had different wishes for the city.
For example, the left-wing merger party wanted to build additional social housing, while the VVD believes that there is sufficient supply. There are fundamental differences of opinion about the place for cars in the city center, whether or not to close Rotterdam The Hague Airport and closing a budget deficit of tens of millions.
As the largest faction, PRO still has the initiative in principle and will try to achieve a majority via a different route. For this, the party is dependent on one-man factions such as Volt, CDA and SP. Three more seats are needed for a majority.
Livable Rotterdam, which finished in second place in the elections with a difference of several thousand votes compared to PRO and reluctantly headed for a place in the opposition, sees opportunities. The party is looking for a continuation of the current council, which consists of Leefbaar, VVD, D66 and Denk.
According to Ronald Buijt, leader of Leefbaar Rotterdam, the VVD’s move represents a “new political reality” and it is logical that it is now “his party’s turn.” The first phone calls have already been made.
