Disappointment now prevents Geert Wilders who has made the coalition explode. Not only with the party leaders in The Hague, the reproaches fly back and forth, but also in the Drenthe society, it is bubbling. “I don’t get it and I am angry.”
Entrepreneur and Drenthe VVD chairman Ewout Klok can hardly believe it. Making a coalition splash at the moment. At a time with high inflation, clear on the labor market and war on the European East Flank, he says. Enough issues for a cabinet to refund. “And then you let it clap on asylum”, he expresses his dissatisfaction with Wilders’ decision.
“You have to see what consequences this has for Drenthe,” he continues. “We just have to get started. Just look at entrepreneurs. We work hard every day to keep our pants on. And then you see how it is being done so lightly in The Hague, resulting in the fall of the cabinet as a result. While we have much bigger problems than asylum.”
Klok points out, among other things, entrepreneurs on the Dutch-German border that misses customers. “People go abroad for groceries, tobacco and fuel. That is a threat. We have to keep the Netherlands running. And then I am not even talking about farmers who are trapped in permits, companies that cannot expand or the housing shortage. It is very much how this is handled.”
Just astonished, Klok is that Wilders signs the death sentence of a right -wing coalition. “The VVD, NSC and BBB wanted to, but the PVV shows that it wants to take no responsibility. I can get angry about that.” How will that continue? “I also don’t think of a coalition with GroenLinks-PvdA,” says the Liberal from Ten Arlo.
The cabinet trap has grown so much incomprehension at employers’ organization VNO-NCW. Chairman Sieger Dijkstra of the Northern Dutch department again sees that important issues remain for the time being. “We are very disappointed. The longer you postpone, the harder it gets for entrepreneurs to keep doing business. No, this is not a good day for Drenthe and the rest of the Netherlands.”
Dijkstra sees, among other things, large consumers of energy deteriorate their competitive position. In our province there are companies of that category in particular around Emmen. “They pay twice as much for energy here as in Germany, three times more than in France and five times as much as in the United States. Something has to happen to that.”
And then nitrogen is still put on the brakes. “That problem must be solved, otherwise we cannot move forward,” Dijkstra urges action. “We want to spend money on care and safety, but that must also be earned somewhere. Then it will not help if the cabinet throw down the ax.”
The employers’ organization hopes that parliamentary fractions will continue to make plans to help the Netherlands. “If parties mainly focus on telling beautiful stories, we won’t get along. So do your work,” says his call. “I’m not only busy bringing in as many voters as possible, but work on problems there are.”
Although the cabinet’s outline agreement often consumed with its vision, Reinder Hoekstra is also in a bale mood. The chairman of the Drenthe nature and environmental federation fears that progress in the field of climate and nitrogen approach will not be achieved. “And downtime means decline,” he says gloomy. “These were two lost years and there was no movement for that either. The game has to go on the car.”
Drenthe MPs did not want to respond to the cabinet trap this morning.