BBB and VVD must be part of the new Brabant coalition. The SP, PvdA and GroenLinks are logical partners. Local Brabant can then supplement that coalition. That’s what scout Sacha Ausems said on Wednesday evening at the presentation of her report. “The puzzle must fit on content, but also on cooperation if you want to form a stable coalition.”
Ausems presented her findings to the new Provincial Council in the Provincial House in Den Bosch. A second possibility for a coalition could be BBB, VVD, SP, Local Brabant supplemented with a fifth party, but additional talks are needed for that.
Two important things were central: what do you stand for as a party, but also what do you stand for as a person. A total of 22 interviews were conducted. Nature, nitrogen and the agricultural transition are the most thorny issues.
Brabant is the penultimate province in which the exploration phase has been completed. Additional talks with the PvdA and GroenLinks took place last week. This is probably the reason why the exploration was completed later here than in other provinces.
Breakpoint
Already in the morning after the elections, BBB leader John Frenken put a hard breaking point on the table: the deadline for barn adjustments must be scrapped. Farmers now have to make their stables low-emission before 1 July 2024. To get a majority, BBB will need the VVD. In the previous term of office, the VVD remained firmly behind the deadline policy.
Large majority
Preference is given to a coalition with a large majority of the seats. This is to prevent a coalition from losing its majority due to secessionists. The experience with the Forum for Democracy, which crumbled and thus killed the cooperation with VVD, CDA and Local Brabant, will certainly play a role in this.
The Provincial Council of Brabant is highly fragmented: no less than 15 parties together divide the 55 seats. It is now up to the formateur to get a coalition out of this soup.