“This creative variant may well lead to a breakthrough in the formation.” Six months after the elections to the House of Representatives, the position is as follows. “D66 doesn’t feel like a minority government for the time being. D66 doesn’t want to talk to the ChristenUnie yet,” says Wester.
Blockade
On Sunday, D66 leader Kaag did make a concession to lift the blockade with the Christian Union. “The other parties see this move by Sigrid Kaag primarily as a feint for the stage,” says Wester.
It therefore did not lead to a breakthrough in the formation. After ten hours of talking, informant Johan Remkes announced last night that he did not want to go back to the variants that his predecessor Mariëtte Hamer had already researched over and over again. “That’s a passed station, we’re not going to do that again,” said Remkes. He hinted at creative solutions.
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Are there still options?
What options are there then? Still a minority government? Or: an extra-parliamentary cabinet? The latter is a cabinet that does not work on the basis of a coalition agreement between different parties in the House. Such a cabinet consists of ministers who may or may not belong to a political party and who work together on the basis of mutual agreements or a policy program to which parties in the House of Representatives are not bound.
Wester: “Remkes did not want to go into further detail on Monday evening, but inquiries show that he mainly refers to a partly extra-parliamentary cabinet. Such a cabinet should then consist of a body of VVD, D66 and CDA. These three parties work together on the basis of an outline agreement. That is an agreement on the most important points.”
Benefit
Wester continues: “The ministers who supply these parties are then supplemented with ministers and state secretaries who are not members of those three parties, but of other parties. For example, from the PvdA, GroenLinks, the ChristenUnie, SP, SGP or any other party. The parties to which these ministers belong are therefore not part of the cabinet and are therefore not bound by anything.”
That has an advantage, says Wester. “These parties do have a bond with the cabinet, which can considerably increase support for the policy in practice.”
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No scoop
Such a partly extra-parliamentary cabinet is not entirely new. In the 1970s, our country was also governed by such a cabinet. Wester: “The then Den Uyl cabinet consisted of PvdA, D66 and PPR and was then supplemented with ministers from the ARP and KVP parties. The latter parties were therefore not part of the cabinet, but more or less tolerated it because of their fellow party members. who sat in it.”
That cabinet ruled during a turbulent period of great polarization and changes in society. “Even in a period of international tension between East and West and in the Middle East. That cabinet survived many a crisis. Such as the oil crisis, train hijackings in our own country and the Lockheed affair around Prince Bernhard, which almost plunged the country into a constitutional crisis. with the future of the monarchy at stake.”
In the end, however, things did not go well with that extra-parliamentary cabinet. “Eventually it fell a few months before the elections on issues related to the expropriation of land. Even today, that subject is topical again because of the land expropriation of the farmers.”
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Rescue for this formation
A partly extra-parliamentary cabinet could well be the breakthrough for this formation that has been dragging on for months, says Wester. “A solid body of VVD, D66 and CDA that will work together with ministers from other parties can increase support in the House of Representatives. These ministers are not formally part of the cabinet, so they are not formally bound by anything.”
According to Wester, we have already seen a small preview when Prime Minister Rutte included PvdA member Martin van Rijn in his cabinet as Minister for Medical Care to replace the overwrought VVD member Bruno Bruins. “Van Rijn was not there for or on behalf of the PvdA, but because of his knowledge and expertise. At the same time, his presence provided extra support for the corona measures because the PvdA did feel a moral bond. back to the seventies to break the political deadlock of today.”
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