Almost the entire opposition in the House of Representatives wondered on Tuesday whether Prime Minister Mark Rutte can continue to serve as prime minister because of the failure in the gas dossier. But the four coalition parties ducked before that question.
In The Hague, the House of Representatives held a debate with Rutte (VVD) and State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief (Mining, D66) about the hard-hitting report ‘Groningers above gas’ by the parliamentary committee of inquiry into gas extraction in Groningen.
The report cracks hard nuts about the government. But Prime Minister Rutte must also suffer. For a long time he underestimated the ‘seriousness and urgency of the problem in Groningen’ and the Prime Minister did not intervene either. With the observation that there has been a “negligent prime minister”, the opposition in the House of Representatives was furious that the four coalition parties do not want to pass judgment on the cabinet and certainly not on Prime Minister Rutte.
ChristenUnie, D66, VVD and CDA were critical of the cabinet on points and also endorse the hard conclusions of the parliamentary committee of inquiry into natural gas extraction. But they only ask questions about the elaboration of the plans and refuse to say whether the cabinet and especially Prime Minister Mark Rutte should draw consequences by resigning. According to BBB party chairman Caroline van der Plas, the debate on Tuesday and Wednesday is actually “bigger than Groningen alone”, because she believes it is primarily about the question “what kind of country we want to be”.
When is it finally enough?
Like many other opposition parties, the BBB emphatically asked the Prime Minister for confidence. But the four coalition parties ostentatiously ducked for that question and at the same time denied that “the ranks were closed” beforehand.
However, GroenLinks party chairman Jesse Klaver sighed that “no open debate” is possible because those “rows are indeed closed”. Van der Plas asked all four coalition parties the same question: “What must happen before the coalition parties finally say: Well, is it enough?”
Mirjam Bikker (ChristenUnie) and Faissal Boulakjar (D66) did suggest doing so-called self-reflection; they felt that they, as parliamentary parties, had also failed by allowing gas extraction in Groningen to continue while it was known that the houses in the earthquake area were no longer safe.
Emotional arguments by Beckerman and Nijboer
MPs Sandra Beckerman (SP) and Henk Nijboer (PvdA) presented emotional speeches and pointed out that Groningen has been lied to. The other opposition factions also stated that confidence had been violated.
But the coalition parties did not want to draw any consequences. Whatever opposition members such as Beckerman and Nijboer, Van der Plas, Pieter Omzigt, Alexander Kops of the PVV and Klaver tried, the government factions insisted that they asked questions to Rutte and Vijlbrief. And they mentioned that it would be of no use to the people of Groningen if the cabinet resigned. They do have all kinds of requirements about complex damage being treated better, foundations also being repaired and a laundry list of other proposals.
The first part of the parliamentary debate on the parliamentary inquiry into gas extraction got off to a rather quiet start, with emotional speeches by members of parliament from the opposition and more than fifty visitors from Groningen in the public gallery. Prior to the debate, a group of Groningen residents had briefly demonstrated in front of the temporary Chamber building.
The debate only started to get really exciting in the course of the evening when the factions of the governing parties took the floor. The opposition parties suspect the coalition of having agreed to support the cabinet.
Mirjam Bikker of the ChristenUnie strongly denied this. The other coalition spokespersons also stated that they understood all the criticism, but that they wanted to wait for the government’s answers first.
‘File letter can stay put’
Most opposition members believe that Secretary of State Vijlbrief should remain seated. He is often in Groningen and, according to many, has caused a cultural change. But according to the almost entire opposition, Prime Minister Rutte is responsible for all the mistakes. He is also the only minister who has been responsible at Huizinge since the earthquake.