ANPPVV Minister Agema and Prime Minister Schoof at the General Political Reflections (archive)
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 17:00
After the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Schoof and Deputy Prime Minister Agema had a separate conversation about her ‘who-is-so-tough’ statements on Friday morning. The Prime Minister says that the PVV minister has created “a wrong impression” with an “unfortunate statement” about parliament.
Before the Council of Ministers, Agema was asked about the Senate, which does not like the use of state emergency law to tighten asylum policy. The Senate does not believe it is the correct legal route, because parliament cannot give prior approval.
Agema said in response to questions from the press about the implementation of the state emergency law: “Then I would like to see who is brave enough to stop it.” She further called the decision of the Senate to abandon the emergency law and opt for an emergency law “untimely”, i.e. premature.
Insult of parliamentarians
Agema’s words were interpreted as an insult to parliamentarians. GroenLinks-PvdA leader Timmermans left X know that a PVV minister “again speaks with contempt about our democratic rules of the game”. He wanted the Prime Minister to quickly distance himself from the statements.
After the cabinet meeting, the minister toned down her statements. She said she should not have used those words and that she had great respect for parliament.
Schoof later said that there had been a short conversation between him and Agema. “And with that the cold was gone,” the Prime Minister said at his weekly press conference.
Plea
It is the second time that the Prime Minister has to take the PVV deputy Prime Minister aside. This also happened in July during the debate on the government statement. Agema forwarded a tweet about headscarves while Schoof made a plea that the cabinet was there for “all Dutch people”.
Yet there is no reason for the Prime Minister to doubt the intentions of his minister. He believes that the cabinet is working hard on the problems in the Netherlands. “I have confidence in it. And it is possible that something unfortunate happens every now and then.”
We have a steep learning curve and eventually we will show results that people expect from us.
Prime Minister Schoof about the cabinet’s results
The Prime Minister further addressed questions about the effectiveness of his cabinet. Last week, the House of Representatives reported that Minister Beljaarts of Economic Affairs was not yet convinced in advance of his plan to give PostNL 48 hours rather than 24 hours to deliver the mail.
Minister Faber of Asylum and Migration heard from various European colleagues that they do not see anything in her opt-out proposal to give the Netherlands an exception to European migration policy. Her plan to place ‘return signs’ at asylum seekers’ centers was also blocked by the House of Representatives.
Learning curve
Schoof emphasizes that the government is busy solving major problems and that legislation sometimes takes longer. “I am confident that the government is capable of solving problems for this country and every now and then things go a little differently.” He says the government is learning quickly. “We have a steep learning curve and eventually we will show results that people expect from us.”
He expects that clarity will be provided on October 25, when the autumn holidays start, about the use of the much-discussed emergency law to quickly tackle stricter asylum measures.
Minister Faber also does not want to talk about a bad week. She thinks that it is clear among her European colleagues that the Netherlands wants a stricter asylum policy. “The message has gotten through.” And regarding her legal basis for the use of state emergency law, she says that it will “come very soon”.
