Actually, Minister Carola Schouten would come and campaign would actually take place, but then Schouten was no longer able and war broke out and campaigning seemed “inappropriate”. So the politicians of the Ridderkerkse ChristenUnie are packing boxes for Ukraine on Saturday morning. With national party leader Gert-Jan Segers as a special guest.
Cars drive back and forth with baby food, toilet paper, blankets and cans of soup. Volunteers from the ecclesiastical relief organization and the ChristenUnie – often they are members of both – unload and distribute it. The truck will drive to the Hungarian-Ukrainian border next Thursday.
“We’re going to stage a photo,” says the local campaign manager when a car arrives at the warehouse. “May we use you for the photo?”, he asks the surprised driver. Segers approaches and takes the transparent bag with coffee, sugar and biscuits. Two photographers dive on top of it.
‘The importance of own energy supply’
Because canceled campaign in Ridderkerk or not, there will be a vote on Wednesday and so Segers will travel through the country – Saturday in Soesterberg and Zeist, among others. When he flyers on the street these weeks, he is often addressed about the war, says Segers. “Everyone now sees the importance of having their own energy supply.” He says a lot has been said about sustainability before, but now even more so. “And sometimes that provokes resistance.”
There is a lot of energy poverty, adds local party leader Robert Kooijman. “We have a plan to insulate houses in the coming years, especially for people for whom it is now too expensive.”
Kooijman had actually wanted to take to the streets today for that. But then, war broke out.
This article is also part of our live blog: No Christian Union campaign in Ridderkerk, but toilet paper and soup cans for Ukraine