The new administrative culture proposed by the Rutte IV cabinet, which has never really allowed itself to be defined, but which is often mentioned in combination with promises such as ‘more transparency and openness’ and ‘fewer backrooms’, has been very little in the House of Representatives these weeks. to notice.
In the first round of talks with opposition parties about the Spring Memorandum, which will start this Monday, Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) and Minister of Finance Sigrid Kaag (D66) are looking for more backrooms than in previous years. In the weeks before the recess, the coalition parties from the House of Representatives and the top of the cabinet already discussed what they think the budget should look like. Next week, the duo has asked the sixteen faction leaders of the opposition parties. At the beginning of the May holiday, on Tuesday 26 April, they received an e-mail. “Sigrid Kaag and Mark Rutte would be happy to visit you in the House of Representatives for a discussion in the context of the spring decision-making process. They intend to discuss the budget with all opposition groups separately in order to take into account any wishes and points for attention.”
Also read: ‘New management culture’: what became of Rutte’s good intentions?
The consultations on the Spring Memorandum are taking place amid great economic uncertainty – rising inflation, war in Ukraine, tight labor market. In addition, the cabinet is faced with financial setbacks and additional expenditure. At the end of last year, the Supreme Court banned the way in which central government taxes wealth; rich savers have to be compensated for billions. The Senate, where the cabinet does not have a majority, canceled two proposed cuts (on youth care and in the state pension). In March, the government already decided to take measures worth almost 3 billion euros to compensate for declining purchasing power. The House of Representatives instructed the cabinet to increase the Defense budget further and faster. Politically sensitive is the question of how the extra billions to be spent should be financed: with higher taxes for citizens or companies, with cutbacks elsewhere or with the government debt increasing?
Who with whom and where
In recent weeks, it had become clear from the Friday press conferences after the Council of Ministers that Rutte and Kaag were still trying to figure out how the talks with the opposition should take shape and who should conduct them on behalf of the cabinet: together, separately, with all parties, at the ministry or in the House of Representatives, during the May holidays or afterwards. One thing was clear: the talks would take place behind closed doors. That is, said Rutte, “inevitable.” “And then it is of course up to the opposition parties whether they want to participate or not.”
That sounds a bit careless, but the cabinet needs the opposition. Coalition parties VVD, D66, CDA and ChristenUnie do not have a majority in the Senate – for that they are six seats short. And so – in addition to the government’s wish to find ‘the broadest possible support’ – it is necessary to involve at least part of the opposition in the decision-making process. It has never happened before that the cabinet is already looking for the opposition at this stage. Last week, Sigrid Kaag called it “an exercise in changing the political culture, how we work together. And that it is not coalition versus opposition, but hopefully a coalition from the starting blocks with different forms of support.”
Also read: Fundamental choices: the cabinet will renegotiate with the coalition parties
This new form of cooperation among the opposition cannot yet count on much enthusiasm. It reminds Jesse Klaver, party leader of GroenLinks that the coalition can help achieve a majority in the Senate, of last year’s formation process. “They come up with plans and we can think of something afterwards.” He would rather talk to the cabinet from the start. “Then there really is cooperation between coalition and opposition.”
It is unclear to opposition parties how much the coalition factions have already ticked off among themselves, and how much they can still add. In any case, the PvdA and GroenLinks will have the conversation with Rutte and Kaag together. The two sides, who have been working together more intensively since last year’s formation, will also have a joint commitment to the negotiations.
Rustling and arranging
It is also a bit uncomfortable for the rest of the opposition. Caroline van der Plas of one-man faction BBB, not represented in the senate, considered saying no, “because it seemed to me like rustling and arranging, which Kaag herself says she is so against”. In addition, she says, Kaag has “never” invited her for an interview. Ultimately, Van der Plas decided to accept the invitation – Kaag and Rutte will visit her on Tuesday. “That way I can give my spearheads.” For example, the BBB leader wants to talk about the nitrogen dossier and wants to make the Western Scheldt tunnel toll-free – the revenue in 2020 was just under 30 million euros.
On April 26, RTL brought the news that the cabinet has already decided to waive the planned cutbacks in youth care (with half a billion euros). That was one of the two major criticisms of the opposition on Rutte IV’s coalition agreement. Although the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport hastened to invalidate the RTL message, GroenLinks leader Klaver responded immediately. “Great news for anyone in youth care!” he tweeted. “It’s good that this cut is off the table.” Klaver acknowledges that it was a strategic tweet to keep the cabinet to it.
Like his PvdA colleague Attje Kuiken, Klaver only wants to talk to Rutte and Kaag when it comes to the entire package of new budget policy, in order to prevent the cabinet from shopping around with different parties per subtopic in order to obtain a majority. Yet last week GroenLinks already tried to cash in on one youth care component of the decision-making process through the media.
Sylvana Simons of BIJ1 approaches the consultation with “slight mistrust and reluctance”. Because she believes that decision-making about the budget should take place in the public debate. She calls it “serious” that the cabinet plans have actually already been coordinated with the coalition parties.
Lobby Mail
Besides by the cabinet, opposition leaders are also bombarded with mail from ‘the lobby’ these days. Interest clubs of various organizations knock on the door to explain their ideas about new government policy. Chairman Jacco Vonhof of MKB Nederland says that he has consulted with most of the party leaders from the House of Representatives. He tries to convey his most important message over a cup of coffee or via e-mail or app traffic: no tax increase for companies and entrepreneurs, as is rumored via the NOS. already leaked† It is such a shame, says Vonhof in an explanation, “that politicians are so quick to look to the business community to cover major setbacks.”
Joost Eerdmans of JA21 has planted this seed. In answer to the question what he wants to give Rutte and Kaag next Wednesday, he appts: “No further tax increases for companies and entrepreneurs in the coming time.” JA21, a split from Forum of Democracy, can help the cabinet to a majority ‘clockwise’ with seven seats in the Senate.
The employers’ lobby is not heard by every party. Esther Ouwehand (Party for the Animals): “They know that we are not sensitive to their lobby, so I suspect they focus on other parties.”
Also listen to this episode of Haagse Zaken: Are we really getting ‘collectively poorer’?
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of May 7, 2022