VVD leader Mark Rutte wants to stay on, despite the parties that say they do not want to join him in a cabinet. “I am militant,” he said on Saturday before the cameras of NOS and RTL News.
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The fact that his coalition partner Gert-Jan Segers of the ChristenUnie does not want to join him in a new cabinet will not change that. Still, Segers’s words do affect him, he says. ‘I have worked so well with Gert-Jan Segers in recent years.’
Rutte wants to discuss the formation on the content. The parties that come to a coalition agreement themselves decide who they put forward for ministerial posts, and also the prime minister, according to the VVD leader.
In a heavy debate that started on Thursday and only ended in the early hours of Friday, Rutte received a motion of censure on his plate in addition to strong words from other party leaders. This was supported by all parties, except the VVD. The entire opposition even gave up their confidence in him, but that motion just missed a majority. Still, the liberal wants to continue. ‘Because in the Netherlands we are faced with very major issues, and I am convinced that as a country we are always able to reach compromises on those major issues.’
The party top of the VVD already announced on Saturday that they fully support Rutte. The other coalition parties, D66 and CDA, remain silent for a while. They want to use the Easter weekend for reflection, after which the difficult formation will start.
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