The frustration is dripping off at formateur Pieter Verhoeve. At the start of the meeting about the failed coalition negotiations, he makes no bones about it. He calls the failure of the formation “sad and unnecessary.” A big blow to BBB is not missing. “In every situation there are hawks and doves, in this case the hawks won.”
BBB announced late in the evening last Thursday that it did not support the agreements made. After months of negotiations, this week, against the agreements, no coalition agreement was reached after all. BBB, or at least the party’s supporters, could not agree.
The next morning the party itself issued a press release. The date of the mandatory barn adjustments had finally killed the negotiations. A press release that the other negotiating parties looked at in disbelief, but did not want to respond to in substance.
“I find that uncomfortable and I don’t think it’s possible.”
Because yes, that date for the barn adjustments, the BBB came back to that, but that was not the only hitch. What other impregnable fortresses there were, we now hear. After concluding the agreement, BBB still came up with significantly modified texts. In the field of nitrogen, agriculture, nature and water. Verhoeve: “I find that uncomfortable and I don’t think it’s possible.”
That deal was great. There were sixty pages of texts, says Verhoeve. An agreement reached by the negotiators. Verhoeve also understands that this still needs to be discussed in a group and then with a constituency. But he doesn’t understand that that led to the clapping of those agreements. “Taking administrative responsibility is practicing getting a straight back. A good politician doesn’t just communicate, he shares.”
How to proceed now is up to the States themselves, says Verhoeve. The report by the scout Sasha Ausems offers starting points for new conversations. The question is whether BBB is still seen as a reliable negotiating party. Because it is not yet clear who is actually in charge of the party.
“If you’re going to do something, do it right.”
The political parties in the Provincial Council will debate with each other this morning to gain clarity about why things turned out the way they did and how to proceed. Verhoeve does give a tip, referring to the text on the balcony of the Statenzaal. Age si quid agis: “If you’re going to do something, do it right.”