Too often in The Hague it is about The Hague itself and too little about problems that people in the country have to deal with. This is the opinion of a large majority of the Dutch, it appears research by I&O Research on behalf of the NOS. Eight out of ten agree with the statement that “politics is too concerned with itself, instead of solving the problems of the people in the country”.
A large part thinks that The Hague should work on itself a bit more in the coming period. Seven in ten want politics to realize a new administrative culture. Above all, that means more transparency, openness and dualism, something that is true recently very much this was discussed at the Binnenhof in response to the childcare allowance affair. More than a quarter of the people are confident that this new culture will actually be created.
“There is a considerable responsibility on the political leaders who are now starting the formation,” says researcher Peter Kanne of I&O Research. “For decades we have seen voters walk away from the old governing parties and turn to protest and smaller niche parties. These voters in particular are skeptical about the extent to which politics can renew itself.”
Frustrating dualism
The current cabinet has recently been accused of frustrating dualism, the separation between cabinet and parliament. In short: too much consultation in the back rooms, as a result of which the House of Representatives cannot properly perform its supervisory task. This also includes trying to keep MPs who are members of a coalition party short, as emerged from the minutes of the cabinet minutes that have been made public.
The majority of Dutch people, according to the research, attaches great value to dualism. Two thirds think that MPs from coalition parties should primarily fulfill their role as representatives of the people and be critical of the cabinet. Only five percent consider dualism secondary and say that coalition MPs are mainly on earth to support the cabinet. These are relatively often VVD voters.
The publication of the minutes also led to arguments about withholding information about the benefits affair. PVV leader Wilders said that ministers should be prosecuted for withholding information. More than 40 percent of the Dutch agree with him, according to research by I&O Research.
The dolls
In the context of forming a new cabinet, informateur Tjeenk Willink has spoken a lot about the administrative culture in recent weeks. Last Friday he came up with his final report, which was largely about a culture change. He also wanted to say something briefly about ‘the dolls’, namely that the vast majority of parties do not exclude Rutte (seen by some as the symbol of the ‘old culture’) as the next prime minister.
There, politics seems to be somewhat out of step with the rest of the Netherlands. Half of the Dutch believe that a new administrative culture does not go hand in hand with VVD leader Rutte as prime minister. Three in ten think that D66 leader Kaag cannot become a minister again under that new culture. And a little more, more than a third, thinks that Minister and CDA leader Hoekstra has no business in such a next cabinet.
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