Thirty -six times, as often as the word ‘responsible’ falls in the CDA election program presented on Monday. Henri Bontenbal’s party enters the parliamentary elections with a story in which it explicitly appeals to society.
For example, the CDA introduces a ‘liberty contribution’ for citizens and companies to be able to meet the NATO objectives that the Netherlands has committed to, “because safety is not free”. The CDA wants everyone in the Netherlands to “contribute proportionally to capacity” because “the safety and resilience of the Netherlands is both of individual and economic and social importance.”
The appeal to the responsibility of society runs through almost all chapters of the election program. The integration of newcomers, for example, is also called a “reciprocal assignment”: “Society can be expected to give newcomers honest opportunities in education, on a job, and that she gives newcomers an extra boost where necessary.”
From society it can be expected to give newcomers honest opportunities in education, on a job, and that she gives newcomers an extra push where necessary
In the preface of the program, Bontenbal focuses not only on society but also on politics, which, according to him, “increasingly seems like the problem than part of the solution.” The CDA leader mentions the Schoof cabinet, which started with PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB, a “political experiment” that, according to him, has shown that “bending with populist politics mainly yield more chaos and spectacle. But the solutions and results are not forthcoming.”
Not just asylum and migration
On the day that the sheaf cabinet fell, in June, Bontenbal had said that he hoped that the elections would not only be about asylum and migration, the theme that has often dominated in The Hague in recent months. He expressed the hope that parties would also talk about other topics, including living. It is striking that the theme of asylum and migration in the CDA election program is not discussed in a separate chapter, as it did happen in previous years.
The Christian Democrats are committed to reintroducing parts of the policy that the Kabinet Rota rotated. For example, the Stitchstoffonds must be restored and the Spreading Act must be continued.
Recognition Palestine
The CDA has recently changed the attitude towards the genocidal violence in Gaza by Israel. This can also be read in the election program. “Israel has a right to exist, and the full law to defend itself within internationally recognized standards,” writes the program committee. In order to conclude that “the interpretation of that right, however, has become an offensive that violates international law and causes unimaginable suffering under the Palestinian civilian population.” The CDA wants the cabinet to “make an enforcement of international law” through “great pressure on Israel through the EU economic and political channels, for example through the trade benefits from the EU-Israel Association Convention, or Sanctions on Persons.”
For the first time, the election program states that the Palestinian state can be recognized under certain conditions. For example, Hamas may have “no role” on the board of the Palestinian territories, and a new board must come about after “free elections.”
The party also argues for measures to discourage illegal Israeli settlement policy, by taking measures such as ‘sanctions against those’ and a ban on products that come from the illegal settlements.
Bontenbal best appreciated
It is the second time that the CDA has entered the elections with Henri Bontenbal as a party leader. Although the circumstances are very different for the party than in the Lower House elections of 2023. Then Bontenbal was elected to party leader three months before the elections. In that short time he had to present himself to the Netherlands as a relatively unknown politician, as the face of a party that was very bad for it. CDA people also speculated about the end of their own party. The CDA did not disappear, but remained in the Lower House with five seats.
The party is now very different. In polls, an upward trend has been on display for months, the CDA is about as large as the VVD. Recent research by IPSOS I&O shows that the CDA has the greatest voter potential of all parties and that Henri Bontenbal is the best -rated political leader.
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