As leader of the VVD, Mark Rutte enjoys the full support of the party. This is what was said by Acting Party Chairman Hermans and Party Chairman Van der Waal in response to the news that Cristinoni does not want to sit with Rute in a new government.
Segers announced at the Nederlands Dagblad this morning that they did not want to continue with VVD Rutte leader and later explained this to the NOS. According to Segers, something happened last week that made him not want to work with Rutte. “The truth is being dealt with in a very problematic way for us.”
‘Open mask’
The party says in its response that it is not an option for the VVD to break with Rutte. Hermans and van der Waal call him “the man who led the Netherlands through various major crises for ten years. He conducts politics with an open mind and has been able to connect many parties and opinions in solutions to the Netherlands”.
They realize that mistakes have been made. But “what matters is that the intentions are sincere and that we learn from mistakes. This applies to our party and this applies in the first place to Mark Rutte himself.”
As far as formation is concerned, the VVD says it’s not up to them as a party, but to the House of Representatives. Just like yesterday, the party is sticking to the fact that now it’s just a matter of time before the detective arrives. The party says it wants to be “cooperative”. The House of Representatives will meet next Tuesday with President Arib. It is expected that there will be a discussion after that in which an informant will be appointed.
Membership letter
Van der Waal and Hermance also sent a message to the VVD members today, for the second day in a row. They ask them to keep a calm head. “It could be a difficult time in the coming weeks. With so many media reports, the potential impact on polls and many people who will have an opinion about VVD.” they write.
“Unfortunately, this is also part of the political battle that is going on,” Van der Waal and Hermans say. “But it is exactly up to the VVD to monitor the ball. We are not doing this for ourselves, but for the sake of the Netherlands.”
Within the VVD supporters, there is now a lot of support for Rutte, according to conversations the NOS had with party members. “We’re 100 percent behind Mark Rutte,” says Ad Lagas, president of the Klassiek Liberaal – a club with 150 active members, including local and board members.
Political culture
The coordination issue gave a new turn today with our interview with CU Segers’ leader at the Nederlands Dagblad. He described the events of the past week as the last straw. As far as ChristenUnie is concerned, he said, an end must be put to “a culture in which the issue of benefits could have occurred, rather than the issue of receiving”.
Segers describes the way counterforce is handled as “extremely harmful to the political culture”.
CDA and D66
The CDA and D66, the other two parties that together with Cristinone and VVD are forming a transitional government, are referring to the “clear signal” they gave in the debate last Thursday night to respond to CU’s position.
The parties then endorsed a censure proposal by D66, in which Cag said her confidence in Rutte had been badly damaged. Kaag blames Rota for talking about Peter Umtzet in the poll and for being dishonest afterwards. It became clear that she did not like Rota as the coordinator of the new government.
The CDA and D66 both believe it’s now up to Rutte. In the discussion, Cag spoke of Easter as a time for reflection. A D66 spokesperson is referring to that statement again today.
D66, CDA and ChristenUnie youth parties said yesterday that they no longer want to rule with Rutte.
