On Monday evening, in a sold-out hall of De Rode Hoed, it took a while to find the optimism with which VVD members like (so they say) approach life. Minister Dilan Yesilgöz (Justice and Security, VVD) mainly expressed her concerns there, in the fourteenth HJ Schoo lecture. About terrorism and extremism, about subversion by drug criminals and about ‘wokism’, fake news and conspiracy theories. “Our democratic constitutional state is under pressure. And I think at the moment we are only moderately successful in defending him together.”
Yesilgöz sees a distance between citizens and government that is so great that mutual incomprehension increases. “The stalemate that then seems to arise is increasingly leading to social issues being subsequently submitted to a judge. From the plenary room to the courtroom. This puts pressure on the authority of the courts within the trias politica, as does the democratic legitimacy of major policy changes.”
In order to bridge that distance, government and citizens have to engage in ‘relationship therapy’.
Yesilgöz advocates a government that is clear and reliable. “Obviously I look here first at myself, at fellow administrators and at other politicians. We must lead by example, ensure that what we do is transparent, traceable, feasible and clear. Do not make decisions and then explain to people why that is good for them, but first investigate what is going on and how we can serve them better. We must always keep an eye on how policy works out in practice. Ensuring that legal protection is in order.”
Yesilgöz’s analysis is topical, but at the same time seems a bit disconnected from political current events. In the same department as hers, fellow party member and State Secretary Eric van der Burg worked last month on measures to curb the crisis in the reception of asylum seekers. Van der Burg was warned by officials at his ministry about the legal feasibility of one of these, the temporary suspension of family reunification. He persevered anyway, and then got criticism from experts, who warn that the measure is against the law. Last week, a number of parties in the House of Representatives asked whether the State Secretary could test the plans with the Council of State – which he refused.
Official opening
The HJ Schoo lecture, annually on the second Tuesday of September, is organized by weekly magazine EW – formerly known as Elsevier. It is the unofficial opening of the parliamentary year. Predecessors of Yesilgöz used the stage to launch a new political story, or themselves. It is the place where Sybrand Buma started in 2017 as CDA leader about the orphaned, concerned, angry citizen, who continued to dominate the CDA story afterwards. It is also the place where D66 leader Sigrid Kaag, now Minister of Finance, lashed out at Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) last year in the middle of the difficult cabinet formation.
Read here about Sigrid Kaag’s lecture last year: Sigrid Kaag lashes out hard at Mark Rutte in speech
In her story, Yesilgöz lashes out at Thierry Baudet of FVD, who “openly hates Jews on the internet”. According to her, he has “exchanged the dog whistle for an entire wind orchestra”. She also talks about conspiracy theories and fake news: according to her, that “malodorous lard” seeps into the House of Representatives and the fuss about it has, according to her, become an “earning model” for FVD and Groep Van Haga.
Warning
Yesilgöz begins her lecture with the story of her and her parents’ escape from Turkey after a military coup d’état in 1980. “The takeover by the junta has turned our lives upside down in one fell swoop.” It is incomparable with the Netherlands, but Yesilgöz does use the historic event as a warning. “In developed democracies, the dangers creep in. When a developed democracy is broken, it does not happen with one big blow, but very gradually, in small pieces. Something breaks every time. And the scary thing is that we almost don’t notice it because of it.”
The VVD member sees a Dutch society that is losing its sense of pride in a country where everything is well organized – as the Social and Cultural Planning Bureau also noted earlier this month.
Also read: SCP: ‘Trust in politics has been politicized’
According to her, that is the government’s fault. “We made some big mistakes. Mistakes that have not only had major consequences for individuals, but also for the relationship between the government and those people before we should have been there.” Yesilgöz mentioned the allowance affair and gas extraction in Groningen as an example. “The institutions that make up our rule of law and that should have protected victims have failed. And for too long no one took responsibility for that.”
In her lecture, Yesilgöz addresses the government a few times about wrong or slow action. In the case of organized drug crime – which “has been able to flourish for years and years and have settled in our society” – also its own VVD. “The warnings and concerns of the people who saw this happen have not been addressed structurally and in conjunction. My party has also been on top of that. Despite all efforts, we could and should have gone further in tackling this serious form of crime.”
There is a disclaimer for the HJ Schoo lecture: it is always a matter of waiting to see how long the stories can be kept. A few years after his lecture, Buma’s CDA thought that the focus on angry citizens should be over. And Sigrid Kaag of D66 eventually returned to rule with Mark Rutte of the VVD.