/s3/static.nrc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/anp-466088467.jpg)
The top of the cabinet will discuss the election results on Friday. Prime Minister Rutte is optimistic after the summit: “I think we can work it out.” There will be a cabinet letter in which ‘improvement on important dossiers’ is promised, but it remains unclear when it will come and how concrete the message will be.
On Thursday evening, a second consultation took place on how the cabinet will proceed after the election defeat in the Provincial Council elections. It was a “good conversation,” says Prime Minister Rutte (VVD), about which he has nothing further to say. Talks will continue tomorrow, he says.
The latter is also the message of Sigrid Kaag (D66), Carola Schouten (ChristenUnie) and Wopke Hoekstra (D66). None of the deputy prime ministers said anything afterwards about the state of the cabinet plans on ‘improvement’, a promise that Rutte made after the first consultation this week.
BBB’s huge electoral gain is a ‘signal from concerned voters,’ Prime Minister Rutte said earlier this week. The cabinet has resolved to accommodate those concerned voters. But how exactly, that is still not clear.
“It’s about ‘more than dotting the i’s and crosses the t’, said State Secretary Marnix van Rij (CDA) prior to the meeting. Deputy Prime Minister Carola Schouten (ChristenUnie) also sees that there are major challenges on the table for the cabinet, and that the four parties that must resolve them “all have our own visions about how to tackle the major issues”.
Prime Minister Rutte already met on Tuesday with the deputy prime ministers of CDA, D66 and the ChristenUnie to discuss the follow-up to the election defeat in the Provincial Council elections. There he promised afterwards that the cabinet will work on ‘improvement on major dossiers’ that worry the Dutch.
Read also: How BBB’s victory hangs over Rutte IV like a shadow
The government is sending a letter to the House of Representatives about what that means exactly. It is clear that the cabinet summit not only talks about nitrogen policy, but also about the handling of the surcharge affair and the duped Groningen residents. That letter was prepared by the seconds of the cabinet summit, and will probably be discussed in the Council of Ministers on Friday.
Warning from Brussels
A few hours before the ministers met at the Ministry of General Affairs, another warning came from Brussels: nitrogen emissions in the Netherlands must be reduced according to plan, a delay will not be accepted. This was announced by European Commissioner Virginjus Sinkevičius to Nitrogen Minister Christianne van der Wal in a letter sent via RTL Nieuws came out. Van der Wal then said that he found it ‘annoying’ that the letter had been leaked, but has not commented on the content yet. She “is still studying it.”
The message from Brussels has also reached the cabinet meeting that will meet on Thursday evening, although different interpretations are given to it. “Yes”, says Prime Minister Rutte afterwards, “I have not yet been able to read that letter”. The letter is barely longer than a page. State Secretary Marnix van Rij (CDA) notes that “it is all legally complicated” and does not want to “draw any quick conclusions”.
For colleague Hans Vijlbrief (D66) it is less complicated: “the letter from Europe is just there”, and “says very clearly something about what Europe expects of us”. Deputy Prime Minister Carola Schouten (ChristenUnie) “has yet to read the letter from Brussels” but does say: “We know that the tasks for nitrogen are large, and that we have to do this with support”. She refers to the Agricultural Agreement that her fellow party member Adema (agriculture minister) is working on.
Prior to the deliberation, Deputy Prime Minister Sigrid Kaag (D66) emphasized that there is more on the table than nitrogen. According to her, the conversation should be “About the broader interpretation and analysis of the recent report by the Social Cultural Planning Office, and the more recent news about the region”.
It is not known whether the conversation was about that.
#top #cabinet #continue #discuss #election #results #Friday
