BBB leader Caroline van der Plas wants to discuss the precise meaning of an extra-parliamentary cabinet with the other party leaders of the coalition parties. She says this after the lengthy discussions on the cabinet budget, which lasted until late at night on Thursday. “Everyone apparently has a different idea of extra-parliamentary.”
On Wednesday and Thursday, the coalition parties held hours of talks about the budget. According to De Telegraaf, NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt in particular delved deeply into the matter and spoke with NSC ministers beforehand. “We all know Pieter as someone who wants to calculate things down to the last decimal point and wants to have a lot of certainties,” says Van der Plas in the radio program Sven op 1.
The coalition parties reached an agreement on main points before the summer, of which the budget for next year is a first concrete elaboration. The intention was for the coalition parties to take a look at the budget to test it against the main points agreement, says Van der Plas, and to give the cabinet more space. “We have an extra-parliamentary cabinet. I can speak for BBB: we are sticking to it.”
Listen to Sven on 1 again as a podcast. Text continues below.
‘Apparently everyone has a different opinion’
Van der Plas understands that there are doubts whether the cabinet is truly extra-parliamentary. “As far as I am concerned, it could have simply been a majority cabinet. But I do not want to hide behind: ‘yes, but Pieter came up with it’. We all agreed and I think we should take responsibility for that.”
She emphasizes that her party “does everything to make the cabinet extra-parliamentary” and that BBB was “in extra-parliamentary mode” during the so-called budget night. “I think we did it in a good way. But again: there are also other people at the table who want to go into more detail.”
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Van der Plas therefore wants to talk to the other coalition leaders about what an extra-parliamentary cabinet exactly entails. “We have to talk about this with the other party leaders, including Pieter Omtzigt. Apparently everyone has a different idea of extra-parliamentary. That makes it difficult to talk. We have to get everyone on the same page and address each other on this.”
Crying fits and screaming matches
According to De Telegraaf, things got rough on Thursday and there were ‘crying fits and shouting matches’. “I’ve read it too and it doesn’t paint a pretty picture of what happened,” says Van der Plas, who doesn’t dispute the reports. “There were just some very tough conversations.”
But whether there was crying and shouting, the BBB leader does not want to say. “I think that falls into the category of gossip. I do not participate in that. But that we sat for a very long time and that there were people at the table who still wanted to go into detail and needed a long time, that happened. Everyone could see that, because we did not come out until four in the morning.”
“For me it is true: whatever happens at the table, we will always find a solution. That was successful during the formation and that was also fortunate on Thursday. That is what counts and that is what the Netherlands needs,” says Van der Plas, who acknowledges that the party leaders still have to get used to each other. “We are four different characters at the table. Then things sometimes happen.”
Also read:
During the eventful budget night, VVD leader Yeşilgöz did not shout or cry: ‘I don’t do that quickly’
By: Peter Visser
