The students in the Aula of the Vrije Universiteit, during the broadcast of College Tour on Sunday evening, think that the wait for Pieter Omtzigt has been long enough. They cheer and laugh when Omtzigt does not want to answer the question of whether or not he will become prime minister if the New Social Contract wins the elections. He says what he often says: that he is concerned with “the content”, not “the chair”. But that content, or lack thereof, had already made the students laugh a few times: NSC will only present the election program next Tuesday, the last.
Omtzigt’s party is at the top in polls, he seems to have hero status among many voters and other party leaders do not yet dare to take him seriously. Not even at the College Tour, where, in addition to Omtzigt, Frans Timmermans (GroenLinks-PvdA), Caroline van der Plas (BBB) and Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD) were on stage. Research by I&O Research showed last month that voters do not really care that there are no plans yet from NSC. They are mainly concerned with the person Omtzigt.
But the students in Amsterdam, who mainly asked him questions, did not care about that. One of them wants to know whether Omtzigt is capable of leading a cabinet. Can he work together and hand over the reins? “And are you willing to become prime minister?” Omtzigt just wants to say that he didn’t say no to it.
Waving on stage
Who could count on much more appreciation was Frans Timmermans. He came onto the stage waving when the broadcast had not yet started, to take a look around like the others. And afterwards she walked off the stage again, waving. He received a lot of loud applause during the debate. What was particularly popular with students was his promise to freeze interest rates on student debt. Although he did not know exactly how high those interest rates were.
Dilan Yesilgöz promised nothing and did not make himself popular. According to her, the students are doing well: after their studies, the employers were “begging” them, they lived in “the most beautiful country in the world”. It sounded like Mark Rutte with his “cool country”. Yesilgöz talked a lot, but did not always answer the question asked. That also stood out in the room. Presenter Twan Huys interrupted her, trying to force her to answer. That didn’t help.
Caroline van der Plas, who spoke least, also noticed it. And she thought that not only Yesligöz but also Timmermans and Omtzigt talked for far too long. “If people talk like this in a coalition,” she said at the end, “I would rather stay in the opposition.” Twan Huys had asked the party leaders with whom they wanted to sit in a coalition and Omtzigt had said that he feels “more related to Timmermans and Van der Plas in terms of social security.” “And when it comes to migration, I think it is a little easier to do business with the VVD.”
Yesilgöz remained vague about it, Timmermans repeated what he said earlier NRC had said: he does not want to deal with the VVD again. Van der Plas: “I want to go with Pieter.” To her too, it may seem that it is mainly about Omtzigt itself; BBB does not yet know his party’s plans for the Netherlands.
Afterwards, Van der Plas said that she would have preferred a real debate between the party leaders. Now they were questions “and long monologues.” “I didn’t feel like crying in between.” Timmermans told students that he actually found it “much more fun”. “Also for the country, right? We now have a country where emotions run high, where division lurks. And if we start to encourage it, we will only make it worse.”
Omtzigt also found it “quite pleasant”. “You can be tough on the content but have a good relationship with each other. That is quite a difference from how things have been in recent years. The key players in The Hague who could not get along with each other.” According to Omtzigt, there are “talks and good consultations behind the scenes” with the people who were on stage at the College Tour. In the coming weeks they will mainly talk in front of the screens. The next television debate will be on Sunday, November 5 RTL.