Member of Parliament Daan de Neef (VVD), the former speechwriter and advisor to Mark Rutte, is leaving the House of Representatives. In a statement he calls the way in which the VVD tackles the crisis in the asylum reception ‘ice cold’. He also cancels his VVD membership.
De Neef (44) only entered the House of Representatives last year. He says in his statement that he had previously stated in the VVD that he had great difficulty with views on asylum and migration, as well as those on factory farming and animal welfare. The Cousin is vegan.
He is also a fan of death, black and doom metal and in The Hague he was seen as an atypical liberal. He himself seemed to be satisfied with that – VVD members, he thought, did not always fit in with the prejudices about their party.
Now he writes that the VVD “simply” is no longer his party. In the misery that took place in Ter Apel – he mentions the baby that died and the care that was needed from Doctors without Borders – he had counted on “humanity”. “But that compassion failed to materialize.” In Driebergen, VVD members gathered on Tuesday evening for a discussion evening about asylum. There were harsh words from members from all over the country because they do not consider the VVD approach strict enough. A VVD member who called on the others to be ‘more just’ and perhaps to take refugees into their own home was ridiculed.
Guitar Coalition
In the House of Representatives, Daan de Neef spoke about young people and youth care. He formed a close group of friends with Esther Ouwehand (Party for the Animals), Lisa Westerveld (GroenLinks) and Peter Kwint (SP). They called themselves “the guitar coalition” and went to concerts together.
In recent weeks, the VVD has urged the coalition to take stricter measures to limit the arrival of refugees. In Driebergen, Member of Parliament Ruben Brekelmans said on Tuesday that an asylum stop is still an option as far as he is concerned. Rutte IV decided last week that family reunification of recognized refugees will be made more difficult.
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