Bruijn will say it and then ‘hooray’ three times. Those present may then raise or clap their hands.
“I don’t feel the festive spirit this time,” says Attje Kuiken of the PvdA faction. “I’m not wearing a hat. It feels different. Corona makes everything different.” More MPs feel that way.
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For Joël Voordewind (ChristenUnie) it will be his sixteenth Budget Day. It is ‘weird without the festivities that go with celebrating democracy’, but he is ‘glad that we can continue in a more austere form’.
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Due to the corona virus, the Speech from the Throne has been moved from the Ridderzaal to the Grote Kerk, the king’s driving tour has been canceled, the military ceremonial is severely limited and the public is asked not to come to The Hague on this third Tuesday of September.
It is better to keep a distance in the Grote Kerk, which means that there is room for all members of the Senate and the House of Representatives and the cabinet members. However, they are not allowed to bring guests and this year only ten citizens have been invited.
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Budget Day must continue every year according to the Constitution. But no quorum is needed on Tuesday. There will be about 230 attendees. In the Ridderzaal there are normally a thousand. The secretaries of state are not coming. In addition, 37 MPs have already opted out of the ceremony where the king will announce the cabinet plans for the coming year.
Mouth caps
SP’er Jasper van Dijk has not yet decided whether he will go. A number of people from his group are going ‘but we don’t want to take any unnecessary risks’. He thinks it is a good solution to transfer the event to the Grote Kerk.
Buses are available for MPs and ministers to take them from the Binnenhof to the Grote Kerk. They have to with mouth caps on to travel. The advice is not to take them off until they take their seats in church.
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The OMT, which advises the cabinet in the fight against the corona virus, has, upon request, scrutinized all the measures taken and found it in order. Even the air conditioning in the church has been checked.
That there are vans for the short distance is at the request of Mayor Jan van Zanen of The Hague. He fears if ministers and MPs would walk it would attract an audience. Nevertheless, about fifteen MPs have indicated that they want to walk.
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