In any case, Gijs van Dijk wants to return to the House of Representatives. If the PvdA group no longer wants him, he will continue as an independent Member of Parliament.
Van Dijk, who left the House at the beginning of this year because of alleged undesirable behavior, informs EenVandaag. The PvdA member may be eligible for a parliamentary seat in the short term, if Khadija Arib definitively leaves the House of Representatives. The departed party leader Lilianne Ploumen will not take the seat, so it is Van Dijk’s turn.
He always only wanted to return if he was actually allowed to join the PvdA faction. But now that the party still doesn’t like that, Van Dijk says he wants to return anyway. If necessary, on his own as the Van Dijk group. That would be the 21st faction in the House of Representatives.
Unacceptable behavior
The PvdA has been haunted by the Van Dijk issue for more than six months. After reports of transgressive behavior, the PvdA member himself left the House. But Van Dijk soon regretted it, he says that he only cheated: according to him, that is a private matter. The PvdA nevertheless decided after an integrity investigation that he was no longer welcome as a representative for the social democrats for four years.
Van Dijk successfully challenged that decision with the appeals committee of his own party. He made mincemeat of the decision of the PvdA board. But as far as the party is concerned, a return of Van Dijk in the PvdA party is still ‘not realistic’.