The sign on the door of the PvdA fraction room reads ‘do not disturb’. It’s Monday afternoon, two o’clock. Just before that, Esther Ouwehand of the Party for the Animals entered, followed by Farid Azarkan from Denk, GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver and also Laurens Dassen from Volt. The left-wing faction leaders come together to prepare perhaps the most important debate of the year: on the government statement of the Rutte IV cabinet. on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The group, to which Sylvana Simons van Bij1, SP leader Lilian Marijnissen and the loners Liane den Haan and Pieter Omtzigt were also invited, has its own app group. With the name: ‘Unity makes strength’.
In the sixteenth century that was the motto of the Republic of the United Netherlands, since mid-November it has belonged to these nine party leaders. The idea was from Klaver and Ploumen, and the goal is: better cooperation as a left-wing opposition. Liane den Haan, who does not consider herself to be left-wing, was only invited late, just like ex-CDA member Omtzigt.
Lilian Marijnissen of the SP is part of it, but it is not clear to the others whether she really wants to participate. The group had already met three times in the autumn, but she was always absent. According to other party leaders, she never says anything in the app group. So yeah, unity? It once led to irritation at Sylvana Simons: why was Marijnissen in the group, if she never made herself heard? Maybe it was just to know what the others were up to?
It only dawned on Simons later that she accidentally made the suggestion of ‘copying’ in the group that Marijnissen was a member of.
Ploumen came up with the motto, according to others Simons proposed the group image: a florin with the group slogan.
After the elections in March, and also in the months after, so many factions had entered the House of Representatives that it could become easy for the cabinet to play divide and rule, the left-wing parties thought. They were also not very pleased with themselves, there were many. There was hardly any cooperation. In the debate on the government statement, ‘Unity makes power’ wants to show that things can be done differently.
Don’t let Rutte get away
The purpose of the meeting on Monday was to devise a strategy. What did they all find important, how could they support each other with the interruption microphone in such a way that Rutte couldn’t get away with an easy or no answer?
Almost all of them think that Rutte IV throws money aimlessly and moves the bill forward. That groups of people – the elderly with only an old age pension, young people in mental health care – are forgotten. Will the money from the climate fund not become a present for large companies? And if you really want to halve child poverty, why not spend a lot more money on it? And when it comes to the state pension, which will not increase with the planned increase in the minimum wage, they will almost certainly find other right-wing parties as well.
But if you ask around in the left-wing opposition group: what have they benefited from their meetings and the app group so far? Then the answer is unanimous: not much. Although one group chairman calls it “instructive to see how others prepare such debates”.
The debate on the government statement is just as important as the General Political Reflections after Budget Day. It is an opportunity for all group leaders to stand out, to show what they stand for. Maybe that’s why there’s so little concord
Also read: New cabinet still desperately needs opposition
Take the SP. It has been working on its own plan since the March elections and the loss of five seats. Marijnissen wants to come up with a new, ‘fundamental’ story. That should no longer only tell you what is going wrong in the Netherlands, but also why. Think of the allowance affair: why should you still need allowances to make ends meet if you work?
SP members in the Binnenhof also doubt whether they just want to be called left-wing when it comes to migration or climate. They consider themselves more conservative on those issues, and therefore different from the other left-wing parties.
The voters of GroenLinks and PvdA are happy with the attention and all the money from Rutte IV for climate, education and housing. How do you, as a party leader, still stand out with your criticism?
It is by no means certain whether ‘Unity makes power’ will help. In the group they do not yet agree with each other about their attitude: should you bother Rutte IV at all costs? Or sometimes support with a good plan?
“It’s good that we talk to each other,” says a group chairman. “But it’s really not that we are on the benches because we have big plans for each other.”
Lilian Marijnissen was again not there on Monday.
Also read: PvdA and GroenLinks present substantive opposition agreement
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