In the large meeting room of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday evening at a quarter to eight, there is a debate about ‘the obstacle criterion regarding the free choice of doctors’. Chamber President Vera Bergkamp of D66 wishes everyone a warm welcome: the Minister for Long-term Care, the MPs. “And also,” she says, “the people in the public gallery.”
That’s two. Jet van Bergen and Jan Mooren from Gennep, Limburg. Jet (64) worked in healthcare as a nurse and manager and is retired, Jan (63) is a dentist. They grew up together, they have been friends for a long time. And the fact that they are here now, they have been in The Hague for two days, does not pass the obstacle criterion. It could have been any debate, at home they follow via NPO Politics and News also just about every debate. Especially Jan. On his iPad, during breaks at work. And often also in the evening.
They think it’s strange that I ask why. “I also like snooker,” says Jan. “Do you want to know why?” And: “Others watch football all day.” They are cheerful, friendly, curious. If I walk around here all day as a political journalist, Jan thinks, I will probably know why Mark Rutte is not in a relationship. “Isn’t it strange that we don’t know that?” Jet shouts that she wants a date with Rutte. Can I arrange that for her?
Politics as a reality show. After the debate they stand in the hall near the escalator and the protagonists just walk past. Gideon van Meijeren of FVD says good evening, Jan Mooren looks reserved and says to me: “I’m not a fan of that.” But then, again cheerfully: “Is he going to debate now? Then you get nice discussions. The chairman always reacts so irritably to him.”
Jan has been voting for the VVD for a long time. He likes, he says, “the political fight.” But sometimes he thinks it is “very mean”. He also watched interrogations by the parliamentary inquiry committee into fraud policy and was touched by the story of an official from Oss. “An older man. He wanted to stand up for people, but politicians didn’t allow him to do so. Isn’t that terrible?”
Pieter Omtzigt, on his way to the exit, stops for a moment. He finds it unbelievable that they were involved in the debate about the obstacle criterion. He had been watching a football match. The women of FC Twente were eliminated in the final preliminary round of the Champions League. When Omtzigt is on the escalator, Jet van Bergen says to Jan: “He looks good. For someone who works so hard.”
She voted for Volt in the Provincial Council elections. That came from the Stemwijzer. Now she wants to vote for Omtzigt. She finds him “honest and sincere”. But I don’t have to arrange a date with him, she says. “I want to have dinner with Rutte. You can laugh at that. Omtzigt, they still have to knock some air through that.”