The ChristenUnie had “gathered up all the courage” on Friday, says Maarten van Ooijen, now outgoing State Secretary for Youth Care in Rutte IV. To save what could be saved. Since the autumn, Van Ooijen (33) has been negotiating on behalf of CU with VVD, D66 and CDA about plans for a stricter asylum and migration policy. According to him, the Christian Union also thought that it “really has to be sharper and stricter”. “We were prepared to go very far,” he says on Saturday afternoon, half a day after the fall of the cabinet. “But it must be fair to those who really need our help.”
There were already plans on paper for a detention center for refugees who had also applied for asylum in another EU country, the full permanent residence permit would disappear, a distinction would be made between war refugees, who could then only stay temporarily, and people who country are not safe because of their religion or sexual orientation. “We have always said to each other: there is only a deal when everything is really done,” says Van Ooijen.
And that failed.
The VVD’s proposal for an ’emergency brake’ on family reunification, if many asylum seekers arrive, went too far for the CU.
“With this you would lay down in law that there may be situations in which you do not allow families to come together. We were there as ministers and faction and everyone in the party who has spoken about it unanimously: that this is a bridge too far for us.”
Didn’t party chairman Mirjam Bikker have said that to Mark Rutte before?
“A long time ago yes. That this was a core value for us. That you don’t pull families apart in emergency situations. And that that would always remain a core value.”
Did Rutte accept that as VVD leader in that conversation with Bikker?
“You have to ask the VVD that.”
But you didn’t have the idea at the time that it would lead to a breakup?
“We did indeed think we could get out.”
Read also: In any case, Rutte wanted measures against family reunification
So what happened in the negotiations on Wednesday night, Rutte’s demand to curtail family reunification, came unexpectedly?
“After that evening I thought: guys, how are we going to get out of here? But we also said to each other: we will not just let the cabinet fall. We’re going to go all out and flip every option ten times. So we had another huge session on Thursday. And then that emergency brake was worked out in a proposal. We received it on Friday evening, although of course we already knew what it was about. We talked about it for a long time and finally we said: we are willing to accept the package, but this demand is not possible.”
And then Rutte determined that the cabinet would fall?
“Yes, it was done. And everyone felt the heaviness. It was emotional, nobody wanted this. And at the same time I saw a kind of resignation in everyone.”
It was Rutte himself who suddenly came up with that demand on Wednesday evening about limited family reunification. The VVD also wanted a quota for partners and minor children of war refugees?
“How he handled that is irrelevant to us. Sigrid Kaag has said that there has been unnecessary tension and I can confirm that. But in the end it didn’t matter to us.”
The VVD then swallowed that quota for children and partners, right?
“After that, we all discussed other proposals. Which were always a bridge too far for us.”
You have sometimes called The Hague politics an ice bath. Was the water ever as cold as it was last week?
“No no no!”