A majority of GroenLinks and PvdA members on Saturday support the proposal to form a single faction in the Senate after the elections next year. The left-wing collaboration is taking concrete shape with this step.
A large majority of MEPs on both sides supported the proposal for one political group. 77 percent voted in favor of the PvdA and 80 percent of GroenLinks.
The intention is for the two parties to form a joint faction after the elections for the Provincial Council in 2023, which elect the Senate. This wish still has to be worked out by the party boards.
In any case, nothing changes on paper. PvdA and GroenLinks keep their own statutes. They also have their own electoral list. The senators who are subsequently elected sit in the Senate for their own party.
They will then meet together, divide the portfolios among themselves and – if all goes well – vote the same. It is not yet known who will lead the joint faction, and from which party.
PvdA party chairman Esther-Mirjam Sent responded with satisfaction. She wants to “make a firm left fist in the right-wing rotten climate.” Katinka Eikelenboom, party chairman of GroenLinks: “After years of talking about left-wing cooperation, we are now taking the next step with each other with great conviction. Towards a left-wing future.”
The parties already work closely together in the Senate, just as they do in the House of Representatives.
PvdA prominent people react to the results during the party congress.
PvdA prominent people react to the results during the party congress. Photo: AP
Majority of PvdA members want to go one step further
The members of the PvdA also expressed a majority (58 percent) in Nieuwegein on Saturday about the formation of one joint electoral list of GroenLinks and the PvdA. This is another step further than just a joint faction and a bridge too far for the party board.
At the moment, the PvdA does not want to take irreversible steps, according to the board. In addition, it would be an “organizational nightmare,” Sent explained.
This proposal was not on the table at GroenLinks. Last week, members were only able to express their views on the wish for a joint group in an online referendum.
No merger yet
The fire between the two parties became more and more concrete during the formation last year. Jesse Klaver (GroenLinks) and former PvdA leader Lilianne Ploumen linked their political fate to each other. Only together in a coalition or not.
Collaboration on the left has been discussed in both sides for much longer. The big question is always how and how far this should look in practice.
In that regard, the step taken today can be seen as a first tentative concrete step. The formation of one senate faction is a kind of declaration of intent for the future. There is still no talk of a merger between the two parties.