He now regrets that Mark Rutte does not want to “beg” for the confidence of the Dutch. That statement had “unfortunately” ended up in a newspaper headline, he said Monday evening at Op1. He only meant, he said: there is probably no one waiting for him to conduct “a like-Mark-Rutte-like campaign”.
In the Catshuis, where he received Op1 presenter Sven Kockelmann for an hour-long interview, Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) was looking for a completely different tone. He had sometimes considered himself “a little pathetic” when people accused him of being invisible in the nitrogen and energy crisis. Hadn’t he, he said, visited many farmers, which had been televised every time? “But then I say to myself: listen, Mark, if people think that, then they’re right.”
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They were phrases that came up a few times, in different variations. Had his cabinet been very late with the idea of an ‘energy ceiling’, to help people with their high energy bills? Then he would say to himself, “Mark, if they say that, then you should care.” A 3.3 as a mark, for himself? “That hurts me. I have to accept it and I have to look: where does it come from? How can I improve it?”
The fact that Rutte was with Kockelmann in the Catshuis, the official residence of the Prime Minister since the early 1960s, should give the interview extra weight. The poet Jacob Cats had the house built and had moved in there himself in 1652. Ruth does not live there. Although there is a real nameplate on one of the doors with ‘family Rutte’ on it.
EenVandaag had broadcast an interview with Rutte from the Torentje last week, on Prinsjesdag. For such an extra long story, with a serious message, it could also come across as a repeat of Rutte’s TV speeches about corona.
Vague and technical
Rutte had taken the criticism of his speeches from the Torentje. He mentioned the second speech, when protesters made noise with pots and pans. “That was up to that point,” said Rutte, he just started talking a little louder, “There was also other criticism: once we understand such a speech, but you can’t say anything back.” It therefore seemed a good idea to him to be interviewed with “firm questions”, almost as if Sven Kockelmann asked them on behalf of the Netherlands.
D66 had been insisting for some time that Rutte, like other European leaders, would choose a moment to address the Netherlands: about the war in Ukraine and what is at stake there, and what sacrifices will be required of the Dutch. . Rutte had also promised in the General Political Reflections: he would look for “stages” to tell that story, he said, it should not disappear from “the headlines”.
The story also had to be about ‘the state of the country’ – the fear of high prices, the anger of farmers, the lack of trust in the government. It was also an opportunity for Rutte, who is popular with fewer and fewer voters, to show himself as the leader. Just like in the corona crisis. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Rutte had talked about the war every week, in his press conference on Friday after the Council of Ministers, but hardly anyone had noticed.
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In the TV interview, Rutte remained vague and technical on many subjects, even when they were dealing with Ukraine and the energy crisis. For example, about energy bills, which have risen enormously as a result of high gas prices. It was about the ‘filling degree’ of gas reserves, about the market for liquid gas. “That LNG, that works interestingly, those are world market prices.” And it was about the European discussion about a ceiling for energy prices, which Rutte was always “very reluctant” about, he admitted. But that was different from the Dutch discussion about such a ceiling, he explained.
Putin and Ukraine
But when it came to Vladimir Putin, Rutte’s tone changed. He was asked whether society would stand behind military support for Ukraine if the gas reserves were depleted. Rutte compared Putin to Adolf Hitler. “I know the Dutchman a little bit. If we know one thing about World War II, it’s that giving in to brutal violence and expansionism doesn’t stop at one country. We know that about Hitler.”
A sensitive comparison that world leaders hardly ever use. Polish President Andrzej Duda is one of the few European leaders to precede Rutte, and the passage could attract international attention in the coming days.
A few hours before the broadcast, Rutte had a photo of himself posted on Twitter, calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – in the Torentje, with two employees around him. He usually speaks to Zelensky every two weeks, this time promising him more weapons for Ukraine, and more sanctions against Russia.
High energy prices and the war in Ukraine are, in the eyes of citizens, the two biggest crises of the moment. There is dissatisfaction among citizens in particular about the energy crisis, according to research by I&O Research last week. Rutte kept saying that he understood that. In the afternoon he had read “three letters” from middle-income people who also got into trouble. He took, he said again, all criticism “very seriously”. “But sometimes there are problems that you don’t” overnight resolves.”