Cabinet remains cautious, but promises voter relaxation after elections

No irresponsible risks in the short term, but more perspective for the long term. That will more or less be the message of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) on Monday at a new press conference about the corona measures. The cabinet, insiders confirm, decided this Saturday at the Catshuis that no major new relaxations will take effect from 15 March and that the curfew will remain for the time being.

A week and a half before the elections, the cabinet is not giving in to the social pressure from impatient entrepreneurs in particular to ease up more quickly. The OMT advised against further easing this weekend, Rutte mentioned the Dutch corona figures visiting on Sunday The Telegraph “Bad” compared to other European countries. “At the moment the luxury is not there to expand further,” said the prime minister, who wants to convey that he is a responsible leader who does not take unnecessary risks with public health in the middle of the campaign.

More perspective

At the same time, Rutte will also say on Monday that he hopes that there will be further relaxation in three weeks. If the figures allow it, higher education may then restart, the terraces may open under certain conditions and shops may again receive more customers. Rutte also wants to say something on Monday about whether the Dutch can travel again during the May holiday. The cabinet wants to give perspective to the corona-tired population, it sounds, but it is of course not bad for the prime minister that he can promise voters a beer on the terrace before the elections.

The question is how realistic Rutte’s promises are if he really wants to continue to focus on the virus figures. The chance that the figures in two weeks will be better at the next decision moment seems small. The number of infections is no longer decreasing, the reproduction number is above 1 and hospital admissions are again rising slightly. The effects of reopening secondary schools and contact professions are not even visible in these figures.

Due to the press conference on Monday and the parliamentary debate on Wednesday, it will again mainly be about corona in The Hague in the coming days. That seems unfavorable for Rutte’s competitors, who has been in the lead in the polls for months and is profiting from his role as crisis prime minister. The other parties have only limited success in breaking open the campaign and putting themes other than corona on the agenda. For two of Rutte’s most important challengers, CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra and D66 party leader Sigrid Kaag, they are also in the cabinet together with Rutte and are jointly responsible for the policy pursued.

Curfew extended

A promise that Rutte has clearly broken is that he would revoke the curfew as soon as possible. This “rotten measure” would last no more than two weeks, or otherwise at most a little longer. This weekend, the cabinet decided to extend the curfew, which went into effect at the end of January, until at least March 30. The curfew has now become a medium of exchange to make other relaxation possible, is also recognized in government circles. “At the curfew, we have gone from being ‘the first off’ to a precondition for further relaxation.”

Does his broken promise about the curfew still make Rutte vulnerable in the campaign? However, in his fight on the right with PVV leader Geert Wilders, who from the start fiercely and consistently spoke out against this restriction of freedom. But this does not apply to the other parties. Rutte’s coalition partner D66 was very critical at first, but reluctantly agreed with the introduction. The same applies to the left-wing opposition parties PvdA, GroenLinks and SP. Making a turn and withdrawing the aid seems difficult because the OMT assumes a significant effect of the measure. Rutte can also continue to point out the relatively strong support among the population for the measure.

The prime minister himself sounded in De Telegraaf on Saturday as if he had already won the elections. He warned against a long drawn-out formation and advocated a ‘national recovery plan’ ahead of a coalition agreement. Wilders spoke of ‘campaign tricks’ and said that it is up to the voter first.

He is right about that, but for the time being Rutte seems to keep the initiative in the campaign. Where other parties in this atypical election battle have difficulty reaching the general public, Rutte again has an audience of millions during the corona press conference on Monday evening. He can tell the voters that more will be possible after the elections.

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