Seeking support in the House of Representatives can be complicated and time-consuming, but it also has advantages. It ties in with the new open management culture, which was discussed a lot in The Hague as a result of the Allowances affair.
boarded up
The criticism of the last cabinets is that everything was laid down in detailed coalition agreements and that every week was ‘tapped’ in consultations with coalition factions. As a result, the opposition in the House of Representatives was faced with fait accomplis and the role of parliament was reduced.
The idea is that with a minority government less can be boarded up in advance and therefore more must be negotiated with the House. Or in the words of ChristenUnie leader Segers, who advocate shows of the minority variant: “Then you have a cabinet that has to find a majority on content every time, and that results in open relationships.”
Colijn 5
Those open relationships can also lead to problems, especially in terms of stability. Minority cabinets are relatively easy to dismiss, because they are not ‘covered’ by a majority of the House by default. A typical example is the Colijn 5 cabinet, which in 1939 was sent home after only two days when the government statement was made.
The most recent minority cabinet is Rutte I, although it is better known as ‘tolerance cabinet’. VVD and CDA concluded a coalition agreement in 2010 (together 52 seats), and they also concluded a tolerance agreement with the PVV (24 seats, together makes 76).
tolerate
The tolerance agreement was about asylum, safety, the elderly and a large austerity package. On other issues, the PVV was free to vote differently from the coalition. This construction proved unsuccessful in terms of stability. After less than two years, the cabinet fell when the three parties failed to agree on further austerity measures.
Incidentally, there are no possible specific tolerance constructions at this stage of the formation. Although GroenLinks and PvdA have already said that they do not want to be a tolerance partner.
It is now up to Remkes to weigh all this up and discuss it with the parties. If they don’t work out, there are other options that are mentioned. So you still have it business cabinet, the extraparliamentary kabinet and new elections can be called.
–
