Is left in the well? Kati Piri, Member of Parliament for the PvdA, stands in front of a small hall in Houten, three weeks before the municipal elections, and she plays with words† “Are we in the pit now, or in a construction pit?” She finds: the latter. She wants to “build the merger” of GroenLinks and the PvdA. “Radical and far-reaching”, as far as she is concerned. She also hopes, she also says, for one joint list for the Senate during the Provincial Council elections next year.
The hall loves it. Piri makes a concerned impression, she is a bit flushed. MEP Bas Eickhout (GroenLinks), also on the podium, seems rather indifferent, distant. Left-wing voters in Houten can think about that evening: the PvdA really wants left-wing cooperation. And GroenLinks, meh.
But in The Hague? Piri’s story arouses irritation in the parliamentary group of the PvdA. In particular, say PvdA sources, with experienced MPs such as Henk Nijboer, Attje Kuiken and Khadija Arib – they believe that Piri, who has been a Member of Parliament for a year, is going way too fast. And also in the middle of an election campaign. Then you shouldn’t be talking about yourself, right?
Party leader Lilianne Ploumen, who announced the left-wing collaboration with Jesse Klaver of GroenLinks, is sensitive to that campaign argument, according to those involved: perhaps not very useful, Piri is told. In her office, Ploumen says this week that she did not know in advance what Piri in Houten would say. “She said it as a PvdA member. And we are not a politburo, she can say what she wants.”
Uncertain outcome
Ploumen doesn’t want to talk about what the others said to Piri. “I don’t ask for the minutes of your editorial board either.” She talks about “differences” in the faction and the entire party in the way people view left-wing cooperation. “And I want to do justice to everyone.”
What is happening at the top of the party is what one involved calls “arm pressing” – with an uncertain outcome. Authoritative PvdA members who have been walking around in the House of Representatives for a long time, such as Arib, Kuiken and Nijboer, are critical of too far-reaching cooperation with GroenLinks. Do they not alienate themselves too much from their ‘old’, more popular supporters? Shouldn’t they also cooperate with the SP?
And there are ‘newcomers’ such as Joris Thijssen, former director of Greenpeace Netherlands, the still young Habtamu de Hoop (23), the Rotterdam former alderman Barbara Kathmann and Kati Piri herself who have high expectations of a strong, left-wing ‘movement’. , with a lot of attention for climate and livelihood security.
In their doubts about the merger, the prominent members of the House of Representatives are vociferously supported by PvdA prominent figures such as Adri Duivesteijn (“The end of the PvdA has started. Away from history, tradition and social democracy,” he tweeted in August), former minister Ronald Plasterk (“Green Left is a rich party”) and former party chairman Hans Spekman. The latter should have nothing to do with a merger, but also not with the PvdA as it is now. In The Telegraph he called his party two weeks ago „dead water”, which was seen by others in the PvdA as an attack on Lilianne Ploumen. She doesn’t see it that way. “It didn’t affect me, not at all. He doesn’t like us. Well, his problem. Find out nicely.”
She does intend, she says, to call Spekman. “I don’t care about him as a person, but there are more people who think like him. I think it’s important to keep it there.”
Also read: How are the merger plans between PvdA and GroenLinks going at the local level?
Good luck in Amsterdam
Four months ago, Ploumen, together with Klaver, presented a ‘progressive opposition agreement’ with fifteen ‘common goals’, including on inequality, climate and housing. In the House of Representatives you can hear from GroenLinks in particular that the cooperation is going very well.
The PvdA and GroenLinks group boards meet every Monday, and members of the two groups often speak on behalf of each other in debates. In the votes in parliament, you can hear, “in 99 percent of the cases” they pull together. Perhaps even more, according to GroenLinks, than the coalition parties VVD, D66, CDA and ChristenUnie, whose groups have decided to behave more independently of the Rutte IV cabinet.
But what do voters see about that? If you ask around at GroenLinks: far too little. Consideration is being given to joint theme meetings and, as far as GroenLinks is concerned, also about scenarios for arriving at one list for the Senate – or two lists, but one faction. There is also enthusiasm for this among PvdA members in the Senate.
But resistance is growing among the experienced PvdA members in the Second Chamber, according to those involved. ‘You hear,’ says an initiate, ‘after the municipal elections, with the success of the PvdA in Amsterdam, the same as after the European elections with the success of Frans Timmermans: ‘You see, left-wing cooperation is not at all necessary from the voter’.”
This Friday the PvdA members will talk about left-wing cooperation on a so-called ‘party day’ and according to insiders the question is on the table: are we going to continue on the same footing, with increasingly close contacts in the House of Representatives, or is it all possible? calm down? Ploumen does not want to express himself on this in advance, very emphatically. She maintains that she has „always been a believer” has been in left-wing collaboration.
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Also read: PvdA the big winner in Amsterdam, which has become even more left
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