After more than fifteen years of MP, Attje Kuiken knows what questions await her on Friday morning, now that she has been elected as the new party leader of the PvdA in one ballot. One journalist after the other wants to know whether she is an interim pope. “To my knowledge, the Vatican does not allow women as Pope at all,” reads the rehearsed response.
It will only become clear in a year or two who the new party leader will be, emphasizes the successor of Lilianne Ploumen. ‘I’m not doing that right now. Many possible candidates are mentioned – including Frans Timmermans, Marjolein Moorman, Ahmed Aboutaleb – and luckily we have a lot of choice. I will be working in the coming years.’
In his own words, Kuiken wants to lead the PvdA in a militant manner, but also with ‘a little bit of love and humour’. When she retires to her faction room a little later, it becomes clear what that looks like. An employee who has fetched her a vegetarian croquette is greeted with the words: ‘Come in, dear.’
Prime Minister Mark Rutte does not have to count on a similar greeting, but Kuiken is willing to talk to the cabinet about support for the coming spring memorandum. ‘But only if things really change, if the policy really becomes more social, otherwise Rutte will have to look elsewhere.
‘Let me cite one concrete example: the energy bill must be further reduced. Make it happen. What has been done so far is not enough. The government takes its time, but a lot of people don’t have that time. They are really driven to despair by sky-high energy bills.
‘I know what poverty does to a person. One in nine children in the Netherlands grows up in poverty and I was one of those children. I was happy with my mother, but money worries cause stress, health problems and social discomfort that you can never completely get rid of. You lack the confidence. I myself received a mavo/havo advice. I eventually graduated high school, but only because another mother convinced mine that I could. You don’t get that from home. You’re always a few steps behind.’
SP leader Lilian Marijnissen describes the collaboration between GroenLinks and PvdA as ‘elitist left’. Is it true that you were previously skeptical about the pact with GroenLinks?
‘I believe in this collaboration with GroenLinks and I want to continue and expand it. Absolute. But I was fierce when it was suggested during the formation that PvdA and GroenLinks should join forces for a while, otherwise other parties would not sit down with us. Are you totally honked. I don’t ask that of VVD and CDA either, do I? That’s what our members are about and no one else.
‘The PvdA is a broad popular movement in which it does not matter where people come from, whether they have a large or small wallet. I think I can work well with Lilian Marijnissen, precisely because we fight against inequality together. The strongest shoulders have to carry the heaviest burdens, the PvdA thinks that just as well as the SP. When it comes to advancing our progressive agenda, I also want to work with parties such as Volt and D66. We cannot escape this in a fragmented political landscape.’
Frans Timmermans and Marjolein Moorman wrote that left-wing parties should not be driven apart by nostalgia. Do you agree with that?
‘I don’t see social democracy as nostalgia, but I didn’t read it that way either. It was an encouragement to join forces and I agree. I have already spoken to Marjolein Moorman about this and will also call Frans Timmermans soon.
‘In what form we will continue with GroenLinks, and whether there should be a joint list for the provincial council elections next year, I first want to discuss with our group and our members. I do have ideas about that, but give me some time.’
The PvdA is not in good shape; do you feel the pressure on your shoulders?
‘Of course it’s exciting. I’m human and I’m going to make mistakes. If that happens, I want to be honest about it. I can get incredibly angry when things are twisted, when things are actually just lying. I was on the parliamentary committee investigating the benefits scandal. We actually knew back then that there was a manual for profiling and discriminating people, but that was again suppressed and hidden away.
‘The fixation on imaging is getting worse. I want reliable and credible politics. And I do know that it’s not always easy, that choices are sometimes complicated, but that’s what we’re here for. Important dossiers, such as the housing market, the inequality of opportunity, the declining quality of education, the energy market, have been at a standstill for four years now. The government must finally act. Then I am also prepared to stick my neck out from the opposition.’