The leaders of coalition parties PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB are coming to the Catshuis tonight to talk about the crisis atmosphere in the cabinet. This arose due to the departure of NSC State Secretary Nora Achahbar, due to her dissatisfaction with the migration discussion.
The argument in the cabinet is said to be about alleged racist statements by various ministers, following the violence last week in Amsterdam. Two weeks ago, NSC State Secretary for Finance Folkert Idsinga resigned from his position. That raised eyebrows, but now that another NSC government song has resigned, there is an atmosphere of crisis.
Not good relations
Parliamentary historian Bert van den Braak of Maastricht University thinks that it has been coming for a long time that the different parties in the cabinet would clash. Yet he is surprised by the rapid turn of events. “If there are no good relationships, then it is a certainty that things will go wrong. Cabinet crises actually always arise from disturbed relationships.”
“The cohesion within a coalition is much more important,” Van den Braak explains. But if there are constant conflicts between parties and the atmosphere is no longer good, then, according to him, this is much more likely to cause a cabinet to collapse. “If the will is no longer there to get out, then the chance of a fall is much greater.”
‘She wrote her resignation letter on Monday’
Political reporter Remko Theulings is also closely following the departure of NSC State Secretary Nora Achahbar. He explains that things went wrong in the Council of Ministers last Monday. Discriminatory statements have been made there by various ministers of the VVD and PVV about the Moroccan or Muslim community.
“She was literally able to hear what was said following the riots in Amsterdam and she was terrified,” says Theulings. According to him, Achahbar’s spokespeople said she had already made the decision to resign on Monday evening.
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Long time dissatisfaction
“This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for her,” Theulings continues. According to him, Achahbar had been dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the cabinet for a long time. “For example, PVV State Secretary Chris Janssen announced that he still supported Wilders’ less-less statements. She found that very unpleasant.”
Last Monday’s incident was therefore the reason for Achahbar to leave. But what does her departure mean for the cabinet? And what are the consequences for her party?
Will the government fall?
According to Theulings, the Catshuis will soon look at how they can keep the cabinet together. “For Achahbar, the limit has been reached and these statements went much, much too far. Do the other NSC ministers think it is fine to continue? That will be a very difficult story,” says the political reporter.
According to Theulings, the only way a cabinet fall could be prevented is if there is an open apology from the relevant ministers who made the racist statements. “And then the question is: should you want to deal with that?”
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End of NSC?
If the coalition parties cannot reach an agreement tonight and this weekend, a cabinet fall seems inevitable. “The fact that a cabinet falls prematurely is not exactly very good for the parties that participate in the cabinet. They show that they have not been able to make anything good out of it,” says parliamentary historian Bert van den Braak
According to Theulings, a cabinet fall will also mean the end of the party of NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt. “The party is in free fall in the polls. The leader is at home sick, what can you do as a party? The voters no longer seem to have confidence in it.” According to Theulings, Omtzigt could still save his party by also participating in the consultations and fulfilling his role as party leader again. “But things are looking very bleak now.”
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The cabinet meets in the Catshuis for a crisis meeting.
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