She is in 24th place in the CDA, he is in 6th place in JA21. They think they are completely different parties. Yet Wieke and Maarten Goudzwart from Leeuwarden will sleep in the same hotel after election night.
It escalated at the ironing board. While he was ironing his shirts and the campaign was gaining steam in the United States, she wanted to know from him: why don’t you speak out against Donald Trump? Even if only in your own home?
The misogynistic statements of the then reigning president were especially a thorn in her side. “I’m quite a feminist. I demanded that he distance himself from that.” He: “And I felt pressured.”
Afterwards they decided it was pointless. Why get into each other’s throats about something that doesn’t even take place in the Netherlands? She: “We unlearned that then, I was a bit provocative.” He: “And I am no longer a Trump supporter.”
Tough negotiations
Their love originated in the Frisian Provincial Council, where they were both elected for the first time in March 2019. She became a Member of Parliament for the CDA, he was party leader of the party that suddenly became the largest in the Netherlands: Forum for Democracy.
Terrible, she thought. “I really hated Thierry Baudet. His victory speech on that election night, about the owl of Minerva… That was not something I felt hurray about.”
The subsequent formation didn’t seem to help much either. He: “They were tough negotiations. Our group had taken a very rigid approach to the files. We in no way wanted to compromise on the energy transition.”
That was suggested by the then second man at Forum, Henk Otten. “He did not think it was responsible to participate in governance in more than two or three provinces. So the instruction was to drop the negotiations.”
Wieke, who was still Wieke Wiersma at the time, had even described her negotiating partner to the newspaper as ‘little substance and fairly rude’. He: “I didn’t mind that. I can also come across in a certain way.”
The spark in the group photo
Yet something was already blossoming then. Perhaps the spark had already flown when the newly elected members of Parliament had to take a group photo. Him: “And then Wieke came and stood next to me.” She: “Came to stand? You stood next to me!”
Or did it happen before? She: “Later Maarten reminded me that we saw each other in the supermarket about seven years ago. I remember which coat I was wearing. He stood by the bananas, I stood by the zucchini. He looked at me and I thought: what a handsome man!”
In any case, their eyes met more and more often in the Statenzaal and they regularly bumped into each other in the narrow corridors. He: “I found her attractive. Outspoken, fierce and feminist.”
She: “I thought Maarten was very nice. He might want to do business with the CDA, I first thought.” To her own group she called him a ‘reprehensible man’. “Maybe you like reprehensible men,” she received as a response.
The Royal Road
Ultimately there was no escape. He: “That was quite a situation, because it had to go via the royal road. In September I told the King’s Commissioner: ‘I think I have feelings for her. Can I have a drink with her?’”
How Arno Brok reacted? “Very understanding. Later he said: ‘If you are going to ask her to marry me, then I want to marry you.’ And so it went, exactly three years later. She: “’Where there can be love in politics, there is hope,’ he said at our wedding.”
There was support within her own group, but also doubt. She: “Some took some getting used to, yes. What I found very difficult is that the word ‘trust’ was mentioned. Whether they could still trust me, as a CDA member.”
It hit her. “It was such a personal step, of course I only do that if I trust Maarten. Perhaps I understand the reaction better now that I am group leader of the CDA in Leeuwarden. But I still wouldn’t do it that way.”
How different it was at Forum for Democracy. “No, no one in my group had a problem with it. I also told Baudet and he laughed. “We don’t call ourselves the party of love for nothing, do we?” he said, or something like that.”
Talking about children’s parties
They say they can keep party secrets to themselves. He: “We are very busy and try to maintain some social life. Ultimately, you often talk about coordinating children’s parties.”
Do they have any tips for couples with different voice preferences? She, laughing: “At the third glass of wine you have to stop arguing. And you should not be tempted into discussions in front of others, as that is when ego plays a role.”
Hard work and a deep drive to make the world a better place, that is what they ultimately share. He: “From nuclear energy to migration: we have different views, but we no longer feel the need to hear each other out.”
Political no-go’s
Still, his switch from Forum to JA21 at the end of 2020 was a relief for her. “With what the party is now, I would no longer be able to work with a Forumer. But I also find JA21 difficult.” He teases: “JA21 is a very realistic, down-to-earth party!”
She continues. “The fact that Maarten views migration differently is different from hatred. Suppose he is talking about a ‘head rag tax’. That would be a no-go for me. And for him, that’s when I would be stuck on a highway.”
“I have difficulty with Extinction Rebellion and their Hamas sympathies,” he says, referring to the XR branches that projected the Palestinian flag on the Dom Tower and Euromast a week and a half after the terrorist attacks in Israel.
Her: “What if I had been at Bij1?” He: “Oh no, I think that is such a reprehensible party. They are very uncivilized people. In the House of Representatives, where I work three days a week, they always close the door on us.”
He also believes that you learn the most from people from another bubble. He mentions his counterpart Menno Brouwer, Member of Parliament for the Party for the Animals. “Our views are very different, but he is genuinely a nice man.”
Election night at the hotel
It is highly questionable whether any of them will actually succeed in getting into the House of Representatives. He perhaps has the best chance with place 6 at JA21. “But I don’t think it’s realistic. We have to work very hard on it.”
Why should you vote for JA21, and not for one of the other parties on the right? He: “PVV is for the leveling party. We want work to pay off again.” And FVD? “That party has just gone batshit crazy.”
And why should you vote for the CDA, and not for one of the newcomers? She: “BBB is very one-issue, unnecessarily polarizing, too Sweet Home Alabama for me.” And NSC by Pieter Omtzigt? “We have a much more positive attitude.”
She herself never thought about splitting off. “If I had wanted to, there were plenty of options. But in everything I say, I am a CDA member. The story of our party leader, Henri Bontenbal, is crazy. I really feel that way.”
They will both spend the election evening of November 22 with their own party. He: “And then we will meet again in the hotel room that we have already booked. It’s also nice, then the elections are over.”
2023-10-29 18:06:00
#Wieke #CDA #Maarten #JA21 #enter #House #party #glass #wine #stop #discussing
