They actually only meet once a month, and there have been periods when they saw each other even less: CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra, party chairman Pieter Heerma, the party board and also the twelve chairmen of the provincial departments. Usually the meetings of the ‘association council’ of the CDA, where party matters are discussed, are so unexciting that those present immediately forget them afterwards.
But in June it is different. In the week after the government letter on nitrogen, with the now infamous nitrogen maps that show the reduction targets per region, the party leaders are back together. It is an extra scheduled meeting. Unrest has arisen in Mark Rutte’s VVD about the cabinet letter. At a party congress, a majority of members voted against the nitrogen plans of Minister Christianne van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen, VVD), which surprised the VVD top. The unrest in the CDA is already great, but less visible than among the liberals. In an attempt to kick out the peat fire in his party, party chairman Pieter Heerma had said in front of the cameras that the CDA wanted “an adjustment” to the nitrogen plans. But it was impossible to make it very clear exactly what he wanted differently.
In the specially scheduled meeting of the party leadership, afterwards, it was about the unrest within the party. The provincial presidents were concerned, and learned that members and administrators were too. Why did Wopke Hoekstra not make himself heard? He knew how important this topic is for CDA voters, right? The statement they received: Heerma had plenty of room to speak out, because he is a member of the House of Representatives. If Hoekstra, who is also Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, were to speak out, it could lead to hassle within the cabinet. And nobody was waiting for that, right?
Two months later, Wopke Hoekstra did it anyway. In a interview with the AD he distanced himself from one of the agreements from the coalition agreement, which also bears his signature. Halving nitrogen emissions by 2030 is no longer ‘sacred’ for the CDA. He only informed his coalition members a few hours before the interview was published. It led to a crisis of confidence in the Rutte IV cabinet. What had happened at the CDA?
Also read this analysis: Do the parties in the Rutte IV cabinet still trust each other?
Dozing off agricultural network
In 2020, a group of CDA members wants to breathe new life into the then drowsy agricultural network, an internal interest group. They seek each other out, app groups are created. When the nitrogen letter from the cabinet comes out in June, the members write a letter to the party leadership. They are concerned: does the party realize the effect of the devised government policy? The unrest is wider. There are members who wonder aloud whether it is not time to organize a party congress.
But that is not what they are waiting for in the CDA top. The party has just entered calmer waters after a period of internal unrest and the intention has been expressed at the top not to let it flare up again, please. Party chairman Hans Huibers is visiting departments that are moving, as is the former interim chairman and now State Secretary Marnix van Rij. And the CDA organizes three meetings, where members can talk to Member of Parliament Derk Boswijk, who speaks about agriculture and nitrogen. Huibers and party chairman Pieter Heerma are also among them. The third meeting is at the beginning of July, in Nijkerk. CDA members, also members who are politically active, express their undisguised disappointment about Wopke Hoekstra, who is also there. The question he heard internally earlier – Wopke, where were you? – also sounds here. And: does the CDA member realize what plans he has agreed to? How could he have done that? Journalists present report on a party where internal unrest has broken out – again.
The CDA has had difficult years, including a struggle for power. The Christian Democrats have also been losing seats for years: in March in the municipal elections, last year in the House of Representatives and before that in the Senate and the European Parliament.
There is little prospect of improvement in the polls: more than six months before the Provincial Council elections, the party is still losing. These elections are important because they influence the composition of the Senate. If the dominant position of the CDA, traditionally a governing party, also dwindles there: what will be left?
Up to the edge – sometimes over it
In an evaluation of the election defeat after the elections to the House of Representatives, an internal committee found that the party had not told a clear story in the campaign. And voter research also shows that the CDA, like more middle parties, no longer clearly distinguishes itself from other parties.
In June, during the extra meeting of the association council, the intention was expressed to make clearer to the voter what the CDA’s story is. The party had to become ‘recognizable’ again. And to achieve that, they were allowed to go quite far: to the edge – and sometimes over it.
After the meeting in Nijkerk, ministers decided to enter into discussions with the farmers during the summer recess. They call it a ‘listening tour’. Photos of CDA ministers in stables appear on social media: Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing), Hanke Bruins Slot (Internal Affairs). After one of his visits, Marnix van Rij writes on LinkedIn that it is time for a “restart” of the process that should lead to an end of the deadlock between cabinet and farmers. The cabinet had instructed Johan Remkes to get those talks back on track, but that is not really going to work.
The ministers will meet again in mid-August. They tell about what they have heard and seen. How great the anger is among farmers, how alienated they feel from the party leadership. And then it is decided that Wopke Hoekstra, who was repeatedly asked why he did not make himself heard, will now do so. In the AD, because that newspaper also has regional editions, in places where the groups live that the CDA wants to reach. A ‘longread’ is written and sent to members on the morning of the interview. The proposals Hoekstra makes in the interview are not out of the blue. The CDA has short lines of communication with farmers’ organisations, and many CDA members are also members of LTO. And the agricultural network has long wanted the hard deadline of 2030 to disappear and also for the critical deposition values to disappear from the law. CDA members are confident that the solution that Remkes will present in the coming weeks will have to be close to what the farmers want. So near what Hoekstra in the AD said.
Start of the campaign
The attitude of the CDA also has to do with the Provincial Council elections in March next year. The party hopes to save ammunition from its biggest electoral competitor, Caroline van der Plas’ BoerBurgerBeweging. CDA members pointed out, after the debate in the House of Representatives about Hoekstra’s statements, that Van der Plas had no choice but to compliment him.
CDA members also hope to win over VVD voters. The nitrogen dossier is also difficult for that party. It is a minister of the VVD house who has to implement policy, which VVD members have spoken out against. If the VVD top opposes the relaxation of the coalition agreement, the CDA thinks, then that party runs the risk of losing its own members.
Everything about the CDA’s offensive has recently been prepared – the rest of the coalition, on the other hand, has not.
CDA members are laconic about the anger in the other government parties, VVD, D66 and ChristenUnie felt surprised. It sounds as if there is someone who wants elections now. And a crisis of confidence? That will go away.
It is now clear, say CDA members who were involved in drawing up the interview, that their party listens to society and is an ‘ally’ of the provinces. And not just from the coalition anymore.
Also read this analysis from earlier this summer: The farmers are losing their faith in the CDA
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of August 27, 2022