Jan 9, 2024 at 5:42 am
The formation process will be resumed today at the De Zwaluwenberg estate in Hilversum. After a two-week holiday, the party leaders of the PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB and their fellow negotiators will continue discussions there until Thursday.
Geert Wilders (PVV), Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD), Pieter Omtzigt (NSC) and Caroline van der Plas (BBB) will discuss the concerns that each other has about guaranteeing the rule of law at De Zwaluuwenberg. They can also discuss other substantive issues, such as migration and poverty reduction.
The concerns about the rule of law are mainly due to PVV positions, which are not always consistent with the Constitution. Wilders hoped to allay those concerns by withdrawing three controversial initiative laws that have been on the shelf for years on Monday.
In addition to the heavy, substantive criticism of these plans, there was no majority for them in the House of Representatives anyway. For Wilders it is much more important that the number of immigrants is significantly reduced, he has regularly said.
Photo: ANP
Former party leaders Wopke Hoekstra (CDA), Sigrid Kaag (D66) and Mark Rutte (VVD) during the formation in 2021. Photo: ANP.
Have a chat in the evening with a glass of wine or beer
Discussions behind closed doors without interim meetings with the press should remove the sore points between the parties. Wilders said this at the end of November, when the four parties were still in the exploratory phase.
“Sitting around the table without taboos and not knowing where you end up,” Wilders said about the benefits of this type of negotiation. The negotiations in 2010 for the first cabinet of then VVD leader Mark Rutte also proceeded in this way.
Wilders: “We locked ourselves up for a week in the office of Maxime Verhagen (then CDA leader, ed.), without the press present. Something then happened.” The PVV eventually became a tolerable partner of the cabinet with VVD and CDA.
The Zwaluuwenberg was also used during the formations of 2007, 2017 and 2021. During the last time, then informer Johan Remkes talked about the “relaxed environment” in which you can take “a little longer” time with each other.
You can spend the night on the estate, and that has happened the last few times. According to Rutte, “it helps that you can chat in the evening with a glass of wine or beer,” he said two years ago. “That makes a difference, of course. You don’t have that in The Hague.” Until now, discussions have always taken place in a room in the House of Representatives building.
2024-01-09 04:42:09
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