A group of entrepreneurs have united to let VVD, CDA and D66 win the elections together. The entrepreneurs, including media entrepreneur Willem Sijthoff, will launch an initiative with which they will campaign for these three parties after the summer. If VVD, CDA and D66 jointly get a majority in the Lower House, they hope, the formation of a center -right cabinet is inevitable.
The ‘voice for stability’ initiative was announced last Friday at a herring party that Sijthoff had organized in Amsterdam. His group contains prominent entrepreneurs from the media, advertising and communication world: in addition to Sijthoff (Sijthoff Media), the core group exists from David Snellenberg (advertising agency Dawn), Ralph Wisbrun (member of the Advisory Board of Sijthoff Media and supervisor at Lucas Bols) and Simon Neefjes (Founder Ceun, Former, Former, Former, Former, Former, Former, Former, Former, Formerly, Former, and Former, and Former, and Former, and Former, Investor at different companies). Outside there is a larger group of sympathizers.
The intention is, says Simon Neefjes, that after the summer the group will raise money among companies and citizens “to lend politics”. With that money, the entrepreneurs want to campaign for VVD, CDA and D66. They want to do this through advertising campaigns, advertisements, media performances and a website (www.stemvoorstability.nl, not in the air yet). In this way the parties can form a cabinet without the PVV and GroenLinks-PvdA.
Investment climate
The founders have written a manifesto not yet published, which is in possession of NRC. It states that “the investment climate suffers from instability.” “Again a cabinet has fallen. Our country is quiet again. And again it is mainly pointed to each other. Politics is busier with itself and the opposing party than with our country that needs to be governed.”
According to the group, “many Dutch people want a course that is just right from the middle” and citizens “don’t let themselves be taken hostage by the extreme parties on the right and left”. That is why they call on voters to vote for VVD, CDA and D66. “The truth is in the middle.”
“The Netherlands and the Dutch economy need a stable center to the center-right cabinet that may have been eight years,” says Simon Neefjes, who confirms the initiative when asked. “The PVV has proven not to be able to rule seriously. If GroenLinks-PvdA grew, they may have to work with the VVD. That will quickly crash, we think. The Netherlands cannot use that.”
The Manifesto makes few concrete statements about topics that entrepreneurs find important, such as fewer rules and lower taxes. But, says Neefjes, the Netherlands benefits from a stable national administration. “Nothing has been happening for years. Look at the stagnated housing market, the nitrogen file, the international lists on which the Netherlands is sinking further and further. The political atmosphere is also aggressive.”
Motion-piri
Simon Neefjes calls GroenLinks-Pvda “not necessarily radical left,” but: “The Piri motion [over het intrekken van steun voor de Iron Dome-luchtverdediging van Israël] Is not appreciated by people in the middle. That is why politics has a bit guidance necessary. If we can send the population more to the center of the center right, stable rules can be made again. ”
The entrepreneurs have ties with the three parties. Willem Sijthoff donated ten thousand euros to D66 last year. According to Simon Neefjes, the entrepreneurs have discussed their plan in advance with members of the three parties, and hear positive reactions from the parties, “even though they hold their cards against the chest.” With the content of the election programs, the entrepreneurs do not want to interfere, nor with the choice of the party leader, now, for example, the VVD Dilan Yesilgöz is receiving heavy criticism.
Herring party
Last Friday Willem Sijthoff launched the ‘citizens’ initiative’ on his Haringparty, on the top floor of creative hub Capital C in Amsterdam, which is in his possession. The public, about three to four hundred attendees, consisted of entrepreneurs, well-known Dutch people and people from the media, in particular Omroep WNL. Among other things, work by visual artist Arno Coenen was auctioned, there was Dutch -language music, and according to the invitation there would be ‘spectacular entertainment’.
Hard was held in the room, but there was also a biconist
Willem Sijthoff asked attention at the beginning of the evening. According to those present, Sijthoff said that the Netherlands had become unstable and launched the idea for his group. There was also confusion in the hall, but there was also a bowdet here and there. It seemed like a present, “as if entrepreneurs had been forming before the elections.”
Administrative expert and lobby expert Arco Timmermans (Leiden University) says that “such an open plea from the business community for a center -right cabinet is unique”. According to Timmermans, it never happened that entrepreneurs are so involved in the outcome before the elections. “It seems like a nod to the United States, where tech companies enter the political arena to stand up for their interests.”
According to Arco Timmermans, you can also see this initiative as “an attempt from the business community to exert political influence”. “That is of all times. The business community just never lobbying noisy, but almost always in silence. You could call it a good sign that it is not happening behind the scenes this time, but that is being pleaded openly for one coalition.”
The message of the entrepreneurs is similar to that of the group for our Netherlands, founded by former VVD party chairman Klaas Dijkhoff. That group wants to “give the silent majority a megaphone,” and argues for a jerk to the political center to combat “anti-democratic movements.” The group is supported by (former) campaign strategists of the VVD, but also supported by (former) politicians from other parties, including Lodewijk Asscher (PvdA) and Marietje Schaake (D66).
Floating voters
Entrepreneur Simon Neefjes says that the groups have a similar goal: after a year of political instability due to the failed cabinet sheaf (PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB) it is time for the middle to unite. The two groups have also been in contact. “There is also a big difference. With us there is an action perspective and not just an idea. We call on voters to make a certain coalition possible. That is not that concrete for our Netherlands.”
Neefjes thinks that voters will float more than ever in these elections, and that that group can be seduced into a corridor to the middle. “There is a great potential. Many former PVV voters can think: this is a better idea. Voters from the PvdA who no longer feel at home at GroenLinks-PvdA have D66 as an alternative. NSC has to do with a deflation.”
D66 is familiar with the initiative. According to a spokesperson, it is “plausible that these elections will be decided in the middle. And the greater the middle, the less chance for the extremes, although we do not want to anticipate the combination.” VVD MP Eric van der Burg is aware of the initiative via Sijthoff, but says that there are otherwise ‘no contacts’. The CDA is also aware, but, according to a spokesperson, does not believe in ‘collecting jointly’ by the three middle parties. “The mutual differences are too great for that.” Entrepreneur Willem Sijthoff does not want to respond, because according to him it was about ‘a private party’.