Collaborate with anti-immigration party PVV? Bryant Heng can’t. He is the number three of the ChristenUnie (CU) in Flevoland and can claim a seat in the Provincial Council if the current party chairman becomes a deputy. But he will not take that seat if his party enters a coalition with BBB, VVD, PVV and SGP. There seems to be a serious chance that the parties have been negotiating for a month.
Heng, who has also been a Member of Parliament for the past four years, the party announced two months after the elections that it would leave the parliamentary party. He wants in NRC cannot give an explanation, but it is known in his circle that he had a hard time with the idea that his party might join this new coalition.
The migration positions of the PVV affect him personally. Heng himself migrated from Singapore to the Netherlands as a three-year-old, his girlfriend is from Kenya. She lives in the US, and Heng found his way out there: he was offered a job there. Heng will work for a mayor in a region “where most refugees are received and where newcomers are proactively integrated,” he said in a letter to members of his party’s provincial branch. This aid to refugees is close to his heart, he writes.
Heng’s departure is not the first signal of tensions in the CU. Earlier, national party chairman Ankie van Tatenhove called the possible cooperation with the PVV “unbelievable”, because the two parties have ideas on fundamental themes that are “at odds with each other”.
The issue in Flevoland is strongly reminiscent of a similar discussion in 2018, when the ChristenUnie in the municipality of Den Helder wanted to form a coalition with the PVV. Former CU party chairman and current Minister of Agriculture Piet Adema said he was “unpleasantly surprised”. The collaboration fell through. Coincidentally, Chris Jansen, now a Member of Parliament for the PVV in Flevoland and a candidate deputy, was then a candidate alderman in Den Helder.
Where does this tension in the Christian Union come from? Party members share their belief in God, say members, but the Bible also offers room for their own interpretation. That is why the party has conservative members who considered voting for BBB in the last election, for example, but also progressive members who sympathize with the Party for the Animals. That means balancing between extremes. And that balance is lost in Flevoland, according to some members.
Also read the column: The alderman of Urk and the voters of BBB
Urk
In Flevoland, the difference in ideas within the party can be seen geographically, says former Member of Parliament Henriette van Keulen. The more conservative ChristenUnie members generally live in the north, around Urk, while the more progressive members live in cities in the south, such as Almere. All members see the distance to the PVV, she says. But the somewhat more conservative group wants to talk first before a possible decision is made to reject that party. “For me, D66 is at least as far from us as the PVV. And with D66 we are in the cabinet. So why should we immediately reject the PVV, and not D66?”
The opponents of cooperation with the PVV point to the party’s “completely different image of man”. Kees Hendriksen, for example, a support council member in Almere, does not like “how they look at and talk about refugees and status holders”. In any case, he does not understand what the ChristenUnie is doing in the “right-wing bloc” that is now negotiating in Flevoland. “They are only right-wing parties. As a party, we are just left of the center.”
Hendriksen, who sees himself as a more left-oriented member, thinks the provincial branch of the Christian Union tends too much towards the right-wing, more conservative part of the party. He saw this reflected, for example, in the provincial draft election programme. Hendriksen saw how ‘chapters long were about Urk, fishing and agriculture’. There was hardly any vision of an urban area, he thought. “The board and the top of the list are dominated by members of Urk, the Noordoostpolder and a few from Lelystad who think more right.” Together with other members, he made an effort to adjust the program somewhat.
Some members proudly call CU the last remaining people’s party
Proponents of cooperation with the PVV point out that the provincial department has a mandate to negotiate with whichever party it wants. Flevoland faction leader Harold Hofstra also points to this mandate. According to him, there is a world of difference between the PVV nationally and provincially. The far right party is known in Flevoland as being relatively constructive and less polarizing, say other proponents of the talks.
Hofstra says he wants to take responsibility now that the scouts are appealing to his party. What matters: the CU is also in the old coalition (with VVD, GroenLinks, CDA, PvdA and D66) and Hofstra, as a deputy, has the important subject of nitrogen in his portfolio. According to him, some administrative continuity is necessary. “That improves the quality of the board.”
Read also: In terms of numbers, coalition formation in the provinces is not that difficult. But content?
Calendars
At the beginning of June, the ChristenUnie Flevoland will talk to the members at an information evening. The meeting is not a member consultation, Hofstra emphasizes, because that would suggest participation by members. At the information evening, the party can “answer questions that arise and, if desired, provide additional explanation about the state of affairs”.
Initially, the information evening was planned during a meeting evening of the municipalities of Zeewolde and Almere. For members like Hendriksen, this is another indication that the provincial department takes little account of the south of the province. Flevoland has six municipalities. It is a small effort to keep an eye on their agendas.”