The City Party in Sittard-Geleen will discuss how to proceed with the party on Monday evening. Due to internal struggles, there is as yet no reliable coalition partner for the new city council in the Western Mining Region.
During the past council term, the Stadspartij was still part of a coalition with GOB and CDA.
Conflict
The party will consider the new coalition formation in the meeting. Party leader Nancy Kaufmann hopes for a reconciliation within the party. At the beginning of April, she came into conflict with Senator Ton Raven and immediately resigned from her duties as party chairman. This instability led GOB and CDA to the conclusion that for the time being they would only continue writing a council agreement.
Also read: Crisis Stadspartij makes formation Sittard-Geleen more difficult
“I have received a lot of support from the board, they have helped me further. I am still thinking about how I want to continue,” says Kaufmann. “I hope we will get through it. I have had a great time working together with CDA and GOB in recent years.”
Basic chord
“We are expected to present that basic agreement in mid-May,” said Yvonne Salvino, leader of the GOB and one of the negotiators. GOB and CDA together have a minimum majority of 19 of the 37 seats. “We want to expand the coalition to 21 seats. A majority of a single seat is too vulnerable.”
“We also want broad support for the new policy,” she explains. “The turnout in the municipal elections in Sittard-Geleen was not good, we do not want to ignore that signal.”
Connect
Other parties can join the new plans after the presentation of the basic agreement. “We will then process the recommendations and wishes of the other parties in a city agreement. That will probably be ready by mid-June,” says Salvino.
After the first exploratory talks, three parties were eligible to participate in that city agreement. These are PVV, the combination GroenLinks/PvdA and the Stadspartij.