It was a week in The Hague. The VVD makes crazy moves with the distribution law, Omtzigt bends over backwards to reconcile the tampering with parliamentary rules of conduct with his desired new administrative culture. And Wilders runs off with the loot.
We should not mop the floor with the tap open, Mona Keijzer of the BBB explained the unexpected action to torpedo the distribution law. To the dismay of Mayor Jaap Velema of Westerwolde (and therefore Ter Apel) and almost all administrators in the North, including from the VVD house.
Because why on earth is it not allowed to mop when things keep flooding? It’s okay that the tap won’t close because apparently there hasn’t been a knob for the cabinet for years. But should you allow the lake that floods Ter Apel and the surrounding area to become increasingly larger? The Netherlands was the country of building dikes together against the rising water, right?
The motion ultimately blew up in the face of Dilan Yeşilgöz, who has been making one blunder after another these days. First, that unfortunate move not to want to govern with Wilders, but to tolerate a cabinet with him alone. That was not understood by her supporters. It appears that the party is in a blind panic, because polls show that its supporters are running away in all directions. Only a stunt could prevent the VVD from shrinking in the same way as the other traditional power parties PvdA and CDA.
That stunt came with the motion on the distribution law and that must have been devised internally. Appear as tough as an anti-asylum party. The scenario seemed to be going ideally at first, because the entire left and center of the House of Representatives fell behind. Perfect for imaging.
The shock in the House was also due to that strange contradiction, after the long day full of soothing words from Wilders – in his new role as Prime Minister Milders. Although he did not take back any words about ‘head rag tax’ or ‘fake parliament’, that was the past, but asked the House of Representatives ‘very positively’ to trust that he will really, absolutely, behave properly.
The House slowly allowed itself to be lulled to sleep. Also Mayor Velema, who had been in the public gallery all day lobbying about housing for status holders. He was having dinner further away, because there was nothing to indicate that it would also be about the dispersal law.
Until suddenly Yeşilgöz rattled off her motion to postpone the distribution law. She barely took time for explanations and walked away again. Leaving the rest of the House in bewilderment, because last week the VVD had scornfully dismissed the same motion by Joost Eerdmans of JA21. Because seriously, you don’t do something like that, go back on a decision you’ve already made.
The rush of victory only lasted a short time because Rob Jetten threatened some kind of cabinet crisis. For a while it seemed that D66, CDA and Christian Union would withdraw their ministers from the outgoing cabinet. Or the other way around, that they would force the VVD ministers to leave. Mark Rutte immediately announced in the evening that the outgoing cabinet will not implement that motion. After which Yeşilgöz had no choice but to water down the text completely.
Which does not alter the fact that the tone has been set. The four parties negotiating a new cabinet, PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB, already form a closed front. This was also evident in the debate on Thursday about the new Speaker of the House. Between the companies, the MPs received messages on their phones that there had been a watered-down motion from the VVD about the dispersal law. But the only one who could explain on the spot what Yeşilgöz actually meant by that was Wilders.
If these four parties are really going to form a cabinet, the House of Representatives can chat all it wants, but then any contradiction is actually pointless. There you go, Omtzigt, with your great plans about dualism and a real debate in the House of Representatives.
The election of Martin Bosma as chairman of the House of Representatives was a real cheering moment for the new right-wing majority. Left and center try to console themselves with the fact that not all VVD members and NSC members voted for Bosma during the vote for that presidency. Just like the four apparently fear that not all VVD members and BBB members in the Senate will block the distribution law.
Arend van Wijngaarden is a parliamentary reporter for Dagblad van het Noorden