Many Dutch people yearn for a politician they can trust. Can Pieter Omtzigt live up to the high expectations?
The announcement that Pieter Omtzigt will participate in the parliamentary elections in November with his own party makes the campaign even more exciting than it already was. With all those new party leaders, the most open elections in many years.
Omtzigt’s participation does not have to turn out badly for the North. But it remains to be seen whether he can live up to the high expectations. Part of the population craves a politician they can trust and Omtzigt seems to be that person for them.
With his views, Omtzigt also seems to occupy a corner of the political playing field that has not been well occupied so far; socio-economically on the left, but culturally and in terms of climate and immigration on the right. It remains to be seen how exactly Omtzigt wants to put his points into practice.
With his Twente background, Omtzigt is a typical person from the region. In his voting behavior in the Chamber and the positions he has expressed so far, he also seems to support other points that are important for Groningen, Drenthe and the rest of the Northern Netherlands.
The question is whether he can turn his fine words into deeds. Omtzigt wants a new administrative culture, but that cannot be proclaimed just like that. For his other spearhead, more security, he, like everyone else, also depends on the economic situation and the extent to which the Dutch treasury is filled.
It is also difficult to imagine that Omtzigt will suddenly provide a completely new policy. He has of course been in the House of Representatives for almost twenty years for the CDA and in that time he has not been able to change everything.
Another risk factor is that his party is completely new. It is difficult to manage with inexperienced politicians. But that has not stopped Dutch voters with the rise of the List Pim Fortuyn, Forum for Democracy and the BoerBurgerBeweging.