Maastricht gets an even bigger coalition with PVM | 1Limburg

According to party leader and incumbent councilor Frans Bastiaens of the Maastricht Seniors Party (SPM), the informants’ advice was to continue talking with six parties about a new council. These were SPM, D66, CDA, PvdA, VVD and Volt. But possibly a seventh party to add.

Also read: Coalition Maastricht: GroenLinks ‘shocked’ out, Volt in

‘Challenges and fragmentation’
“We discussed this well in our first talks with six parties. Given the challenges our city faces and the fragmentation in politics, we consider a seventh party desirable. PVM was unanimously preferred,” said Bastiaens. As the largest party, SPM is in charge of the negotiations.

Formation talks
Party chairman and party leader Tiny Meese of PVM says in a reaction that he would like to join the formation discussions. “After years of opposition, PVM is ready to join the conversation about a coalition and the responsibility that comes with it,” says Meese.

Her party has already taken part in the first substantive talks about a new coalition led by former minister Ingrid van Engelshoven (D66) and professor of European Integration at Maastricht University Mathieu Segers.

Sideline
Yet more than a week and a half ago, PVM, like GroenLinks, was still sidelined because there was not enough support for both parties. That has now changed as far as PVM is concerned. “Where that support for PVM grew, the feeling of too little support at GroenLinks remained,” explains SPM leader Bastiaens.

Also read: Former minister has to forge a new Maastricht college

GroenLinks disappears
He does state, however, that the search is still on for an agreement that is supported as widely as possible and that the parties will also continue to discuss this with GroenLinks. But the chance that the party will still be part of the new coalition and supply an alderman is minimal.

With this, GroenLinks disappears from the Maastricht city council after twenty years.