With the tolerable support of SGP, FvD and Ja21, a coalition of the three right-wing parties has 75 seats, writes Thijs Broer. ‘An illuminating insight for those who think that only a right-wing cabinet would do justice to the election results.’
For two years, while Russian bombs rained on Ukrainian cities like Mariupol, entire residential areas, schools and hospitals were wiped out and entire villages slaughtered, Geert Wilders of the PVV insisted that he would not support Ukraine, because it was high time that the The Dutch would be ‘in number one’. “Why am I not going to help the Ukrainians?” he explained shortly before the elections: “I was elected to stand up for the Dutch.”
Last weekend there was a sudden change from the man who was proudly received in the Russian Duma a few years ago and made no secret of his admiration for Putin. After informant Kim Putters announced in a letter that foreign policy – read: support for Ukraine – would also be taken into account when forming a coalition, Wilders suddenly called Russia’s war against Ukraine ‘barbaric and illegal’ in a message on : ‘The PVV supports Ukraine and is prepared to discuss any form of aid’ – a message he repeated again on Monday in his first conversation with the new informant.
Less than twenty-four hours later, the PVV’s Senate faction voted against a new aid package for Ukraine, and Wilders’ own House of Representatives faction voted against the entire Foreign Affairs budget, all without any explanation.
If PVV, BBB and VVD really want a right-wing coalition so badly, then let the three of them try.
In the meantime, Geert Wilders has been taking every opportunity for days to dismiss Pieter Omtzigt as a ‘runaway’, echoed by Caroline van der Plas, Dilan Yeşilgöz and a series of political commentators – as if Omtzigt had not been completely clear from the start about his heavy reservations against the PVV, and as if Geert Wilders would now suddenly be a reliable coalition partner. For example, a crazy mirror battle has been going on in The Hague for months.
The ‘step forward’ that Dilan Yeşilgöz announced during the last formation debate – the VVD would be prepared to join a centre-right cabinet with ministers if the NSC were also fully committed to it – was an empty gesture: Yeşilgöz already knew since the start of the formation talks that Omtzigt was not prepared to do so at all, and that Geert Wilders does not have any suitable ministerial candidates for any cabinet – let alone that he himself could one day become prime minister.
Now that the chances of a centre-right cabinet with Omtzigt have shrunk to zero, Caroline van der Plas managed to suggest last week at Humberto’s talk show table that, in addition to the SGP, the CDA would now come back into the picture as a discussion partner for such a centre-right coalition possible – as if CDA leader Henri Bontenbal did not explain in crystal clarity months ago that his party will not govern with the PVV.
If PVV, BBB and VVD really want a right-wing coalition so badly, then let the three of them try. With the tolerating support of SGP, Forum for Democracy and Ja21, they have 75 seats. Perhaps that is an enlightening insight for those who think that only a right-wing cabinet would do justice to the election results.
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2024-03-01 13:15:17
#PVV #BBB #VVD #rightwing #coalition #badly
