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NOS News••Amended
In a joint interview in De Telegraaf, Prime Minister and VVD party leader Rutte and VVD prominent Edith Schippers lash out at the Labor Party and GroenLinks, which will soon form one group in the Senate. In the run-up to the Provincial Council elections on March 15, the prime minister says that PvdA and GroenLinks will “grab their pockets by raising at least nine taxes”.
The members of the Provincial Council will elect the members of the new Senate at the end of May. “If GroenLinks and PvdA become the largest parties, they will develop an enormous amount of self-confidence and I think that the VVD should stop that movement now,” says Rutte. “In the Netherlands we should not go back to the days of Joop den Uyl”, referring to the PvdA prime minister who led a left-wing cabinet in the 1970s.
Keeping things stable
The VVD leader expects an election win by PvdA and GroenLinks to give the two parties “momentum on their way to the parliamentary elections”. According to the prime minister, a majority for the coalition leads to much calmer policy. Incidentally, he also says that he cannot do business with JA21, because that party “only reads their election program” in the negotiations.
“We are coming out of three major crises: the economic recession, then corona and now there is war on the continent. I think people also want us to keep things stable,” says Rutte. He does not come up with new plans to tackle other problems in the country.
Redistribution
VVD leader for the Senate Schippers says in the newspaper that more attention should be paid to the earning capacity of the Netherlands. “Sometimes I am amazed at the topics of debate, which are very often about redistribution.” When asked whether she wants to succeed Rutte in the long term, she repeats that there is currently no vacancy and that the party is about a possible succession.
The statements by both VVD members are remarkable, because the current coalition of VVD, D66, CDA and ChristenUnie cannot count on a majority in the Senate and regularly seeks support from, for example, GroenLinks and PvdA.
