Bunq boss Ali Niknam almost fell asleep at Op1’s talk show table last night during the story of Henri Bontenbal, the new leader of the CDA. “It’s really, really messy.”
The new political leader Henri Bontenbal does not seem to be one for the time being game changer for the CDA. He was sitting at the talk show table last night On 1 and did not come up with concrete solutions for the problems in our country, but mainly got stuck in all kinds of generalities. To the chagrin of Ali Niknam, the boss of the bunq bank.
Henry speaking
When presenter Jort Kelder shows a graph showing that poverty is decreasing in our country, Bontenbal says: “Poverty is never just money. It leads to stress, health problems, poorer performance at school. That is why I think we should look much broader than: do you have enough money? Social security is an important theme.”
Why should people vote for CDA and not for Pieter Omtzigt? “I just said something about strong communities and strong families. I myself think that we should pay much more attention to strengthening the democratic constitutional state, but also: what is the future of the economy and sustainability?”
Ali falls asleep
Ali really falls asleep to that. Jort: “May I ask you, Ali Niknam: how do you listen to such a story? You live half in America, you know how people grow up from the gutter and I think you are a bit libertarian.”
The entrepreneur then says: “As a layman with a little hangover after Lowlands, I think it’s a very complicated story tonight, if I may be so bold. It’s very high-over, muddled.”
More concrete
There is no rope to tie, Ali thinks. “I think: if I listened to this and I lived in poverty in Rotterdam – I have also been there myself – or I would be an employer and think: where is this country going? Or I would be a farmer and I would think: what the hell am I supposed to do with the company…”
Jort: “You want to be more specific?”
Ali: “I think: what the hell are we talking about the last twenty minutes? But again that could be my hangover. It may have been Lowlands.”
“Tell me what you want!”
Bontenbal responds: “Well, look… Of course you cannot explain all policy programs completely concretely in such a talk show. You also have to state in outline what you want.”
Ali: “Tell me what you want!”
Bontenbal: “A lot of things will soon be announced in our election program…”
Ali: “But what do you want?”
Bontenbal: “Well, that’s very clear. I said that I think the gap in the Netherlands is too big and that it leads to the undermining of cohesion. I want differences between people in terms of income and prosperity to become smaller and that we have more sense of community with each other.”