Mark Rutte had already sighed a few times. He had clamped his lips even tighter than when he spoke to the Netherlands about the slavery past in December. He had already said “deeply” three times. He was so convinced that the cabinet had only one more chance to do well for the people of Groningen. And yet: in the large debate hall of the House of Representatives, last Wednesday, no one seemed to think that they had really been touched by the misery caused by gas extraction in Groningen.
For his book Super cool! The convincing language of Mark Rutte Dutch teacher Robbert Wigt had analyzed just about every performance by Rutte. He now also followed the debate about Groningen and saw that it did not matter which language Rutte used: nothing helped. “When it comes to people’s pain,” says Robbert Wigt after the debate, “he has a hard time. Then he becomes rational, practical. Something has gone very wrong and needs to be fixed. Then he wants to move on. But the lives of those people are turned upside down.”
Rutte told Mirjam Bikker of the ChristenUnie that “everyone ticks differently”. “I am not someone who quickly shows tears and I don’t think Mrs Bikker is either, so let’s not stimulate that together.” “But why not?” says Robbert Wigt. “He could have been quiet for a while. Think how much of an impression that would have been for the Prime Minister to be silent for a while.”
In the 2021 election campaign, Rutte had faced Kristie Rongen at RTL, who had suffered heavily from the surcharge scandal. She wanted to know from Rutte why he had not resigned and Rutte said that “a lot had also gone well” in his time as prime minister. In the debate about Groningen, he used almost the same words: gas extraction had brought the Netherlands “a lot of beauty”. Then it happened again, Robbert Wigt saw. At RTL, Rutte said: “The last thing I will do is ask you to trust politics or me as the final boss of politics again.” And on Wednesday: “I am not going to ask the people of Groningen to trust me again.” That was “the last” thing he was going to do.
MPs saw how Rutte approached CDA member Eline Vedder after the debate. She is new and in her first performance in the main hall she had been fierce against Rutte, she thought him “technocratic”. Rutte shook her hand and bowed deeply. Eline Vedder smiled, she seemed flattered.
“The emotion of enthusiasm,” says Robbert Wigt, “suits him much better than sadness.”
As author of Super cool! he was invited to the Torentje at the beginning of March. Rutte had not read it, but that someone had taken the trouble to examine his language, he called “a huge honor”. Exactly the words that Robbert Wigt had predicted in the last chapter. He should have laughed out loud. Ruth too.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper on June 13, 2023.