In the Lower House elections in 2002, Veling was the leader of the new merger party ChristenUnie. During the campaign he indicated that he thought it was good that ice creams were sold on Sunday. That was not good at the more conservative side of the party. In the end, ChristenUnie got four seats, a less than GPV and RPF together.
In 2003 there were elections again, when Veling had been out of the room with sick leave for a while. He was replaced as a party leader by André Rouvoet and was no longer allowed on the electoral list. He remained a party member.
After his departure from politics, Veling entered education and became director of Prodemos. Veling has been appointed as officer in the Order of Oranje-Nassau.
Response Politicians
On X, several ChristenUnie politicians speak nice words about Veling. “A wise, amiable and grand man was brought home,” said Bikker about the death of Veling. “What will we miss Kars Veling. At the beginning of this summer we talked to each other and that was impressive. To keep standing for the rule of law. And about the deep trust that God is always a refuge.”
Former party leader Gert-Jan Segers writes that Veling has meant a lot to education, democracy and the ChristenUnie. “And he inspired a new generation of Christian politicians, including me, until the very end.”