The cabinet has barely been in power for six months, and the ministers are already walking on their gums. From Saturday they can go on holiday for a month. They have been awarded it, if only because one setback displaces another. Just this week, the message came from Brussels that the Dutch exception regarding the spreading of manure has come to an end. On top of the nitrogen crisis, we really can’t have that. Second damper in a few days: it is not possible to tax the assets of homeowners extra, because the tax authorities simply cannot manage it.
Little to nothing comes to a happy ending. A week ago, it made sense to do something about purchasing power for the middle groups. Unfortunately, the systems can’t handle it. A bad message, sighed Minister Sigrid Kaag (Finance) in the AD. It is not the tenacious opposition of Pieter Omtzigt or the rock-hard sound of Geert Wilders that the cabinet is running into. A missing majority in the Senate is also not what is stopping them. The ministerial team has barely achieved its own ambitions due to the bumps that present themselves time and again, not in the least bumps of their own making.
During the holidays, the topics continue to arise, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said during his penultimate press conference. He mentioned nitrogen, purchasing power, energy, asylum. That summary shows exactly what’s wrong. Nitrogen remains an insightful example. After a time when it was thought that it could serve both farmers and nature lovers, the EU directive and the judge were inexorable. Minister Christianne van der Wal (Nitrogen) said that she had her back against the wall and had no other choice. Politics should be the realm of freedom, but administrators have been deprived of all space by decisions from the past. Minister Van der Wal also had a bad message, albeit with a lot of compassion for the farmers. Colleague Henk Staghouwer (Agriculture) even appeared in the House with a red handkerchief around his wrist, as a sign of nothing binding farmers’ solidarity.
Headwind from your own circle
Similar politics of fait accomplis is happening in the management of the asylum seekers who apply in large numbers. The VVD faction requested a ritual investigation into whether asylum seekers can be stopped at the border. The answer – no – was known in advance because it was already given a few years ago by the Donner Committee. The end of the story is that unwilling municipalities are forced to receive asylum seekers. Add to that the fact that last week the Council of State ruled that Syrian asylum seekers should not be returned to Denmark, as the Danes believe Syria is a safe country. The highest administrative judge is still busy trying to improve his own life after the allowance affair. In this way, the inability to solve a problem also meets with headwinds from the own administrative circle.
That is the summary after six months of reign. Minister Kaag likes to be aggrieved about the tone of the contradiction, and Gert-Jan Segers (ChristenUnie) often complains about armchair generals while he himself stands with his feet in the mud. In reality, the board is mainly bothering itself. Not only are people harshly reminded of decisions from the past time and again, the policy consensus has also evaporated. This does not only apply to the government, by the way. This week it emerged that the two center-left merging parties-to-be cannot agree on the benefits of free trade (Ceta).
Nitrogen is again the litmus test that shows the internal division in the middle mercilessly. The VVD congress voted against the measures taken by its own minister. The CDA is exhausted. Provinces refuse to implement the policies of the central government, and as icing on the cake, the king publicly expressed his compassion for the farmers. Voices from the inner circle of power turn against the minister, such as agricultural expert Louise Fresco. Even the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, normally the herald of the strictest climate policy, warned that this policy is heading for a wall. The contradiction does not come from the opposition but from the policy elite itself.
Aftermath draws deep furrows
‘One government’, was the slogan a study group had come up with a few years ago. That was not intended as advertising, but to convey that we can count on predictability and reliability. Perhaps the study group was already feeling wet. Professor of constitutional law Wim Voermans wrote in his book The country must be governed (2021) on the ‘unleashed administrative state’, an executive that disregards parliament and the press. The opposite is the case. The board falters and rattles and is also gnawed from within. Top civil servant Bernard ter Haar wrote a year ago that the Netherlands had achieved nothing significant in recent decades. His colleague Mark Frequin goes public with the message that civil servants should more often say no to their ministers.
The new governance culture is called institutional uncertainty. Can we still do it in the Netherlands? The coalition agreement still states here and there that the Netherlands wants to lead the way, especially in the area of climate change. At the same time, the aftermath of the allowance affair is still deeply affecting. Chris van Dam, former chairman of the parliamentary committee that investigated the affair, explains in lectures how little he still cares about the government. The National Ombudsman repeats it to him every month. Minister Hanke Bruins Slot (Internal Affairs) said last week that the review of laws against the Constitution is coming, which should protect the citizenry against the whims of its own public administration.
The cabinet will return in a month. Then discussion leader Johan Remkes will save what can be saved in the nitrogen crisis. A second crisis is probably not long in coming. If the Russians keep the Nordstream I gas pipe closed, Germany will have an acute problem that we also have two weeks later. The coal-fired power stations are already running at full capacity, in September the pressure on Minister Rob Jetten (Climate) will probably increase considerably to reopen the Groningen gas field; incantations and promises from the past give no guarantees for the future here either. Heroes of the retreat, that’s how you could characterize this cabinet after six months. And the retreat is rarely a pretty sight.