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Post by pieter on May 16, 2024 10:10:34 GMT -7
New Dutch cabinet raises the drawbridge, but is it watertight?May 16, 2024 Gordon Darroch The leaders during the presentation (l-r): Geert Wilders, Dilan Yesilgöz, Caroline van der Plas and Pieter Omtzigt. Photo: ANP/Koen van Weel If there was a sound effect for the new Dutch government’s coalition agreement, it would be the creak of a drawbridge being raised.
After decades in which the Netherlands prospered from being one of the most open, accessible and international economies in the world, the four right-wing parties say it is time, in their own words, to “turn a new corner”.
Extra barriers will be erected for newcomers, whether they be refugees, labour migrants or international students. Some will be literal – the government wants to explore restoring border checks and patrols and create “mini Schengen” zones.
Others will be administrative, such as a cap on international student numbers, or doubling the qualifying period for a Dutch passport to 10 years’ residency.
And within those tighter borders, Dutch farmers and fishers should be free once again to exercise their gezond boerenverstand – good old common sense – with minimal interference from European and international regulations.
The new cabinet wants to limit the number of protected conservation zones under EU law so that farmers can spread their manure freely again, introduce its own measure for nitrogen deposits and abandon compulsory buyouts for farmers.Extraparliamentary cabinetThe biggest challenge for the four parties will be holding the coalition together for any length of time. The choice of a so-called “extraparliamentary cabinet” containing none of the party leaders was taken at the insistence of Pieter Omtzigt, leader of Nieuw Sociaal Contract, who has been wary of Geert Wilders’s attitude to constitutional rights.
The identity of the next prime minister remains the worst kept secret in The Hague. The final stage of the negotiations will be led not by the incoming premier, as is conventional, but by one of the mediators from the last round.
The lack of harmony between the parties was evident during Thursday’s launch, where they took to the stage separately to highlight their own priorities, and in the document itself, which contains the kind of violent shifts in tone and style rarely seen outside the Eurovision Song Contest. Constitutional safeguards
Omtzigt appears to have got his way on institutional reforms to promote better governance, with measures such as a constitutional court, a regional voting system and powerful inspectorates to hold government agencies to account.
But some of the constitutional safeguards that will test the resolve of the coalition partners if events require a change of course.
Notably, there is a clause that requires the government to find additional spending cuts if it threatens to go over the EU’s budget deficit limit of 3%. This is exactly the measure that triggered the collapse of Mark Rutte’s first cabinet in 2012, when Wilders refused to sign off a €17 billion austerity package after months of negotiations.Strict asylum plansUnsurprisingly, the most radical plans are on immigration, where the PVV leader has vowed to push through “the strictest approach to asylum ever”.
Wilders was prepared to sacrifice just about everything else for a tougher immigration regime, including his own chances of being prime minister – though critics will argue that many of those plans, such as Nexit and banning the Koran, stood no chance of becoming law.
Current asylum applications will be put on hold, refugees will lose the right to be joined by their families, except for dependent children, and accommodation facilities will be as sparse as possible.
The government is also scrapping the so-called “spreading law” designed to ease congestion at the asylum reception centre in Ter Apel by imposing quotas on local councils.Legal challengesIt is a bitter blow for the outgoing asylum minister, Eric van der Burg, who fought a hard battle to pass the law through both houses of parliament. It will also almost certainly lead to more overcrowding in the short term at Ter Apel, where the government faces a €15,000 fine for every day that the centre goes over capacity.
Wilders said that the stringent asylum rules would have a “huge demotivating effect” on refugees coming to the Netherlands, though the experience of other countries, such as the UK, is that the impact is minimal.
Some of the more controversial measures may face legal challenges. The cabinet wants to declare a crisis in the asylum system, which would allow it to suspend some of its international obligations to take in refugees.
Van der Burg warned last year that the bottleneck in the Dutch system was caused by systemic problems rather than an international emergency, such as war or flooding, and would not qualify as a crisis under European rules.Climate changeSimilarly, the government’s hopes of obtaining an opt-out from the European Commission on migration quotas is already hanging by a thread, as it would require a renegotiation of the EU’s treaties by all 27 member states.
But it is not only on asylum that the new cabinet represents a hard turn to the right. The Netherlands will dampen its efforts on climate change, nature conservation and the energy transition and take a more Eurosceptic line in Brussels, where it promises to be “very critical of further expansion of the European Union”.
Households will no longer be obliged to replace their old boilers with hybrid heat pumps from 2026, tax incentives to buy electric cars are being dampened down and new wind farms will only be built offshore – and then only if they do not upset the fishing industry.
The new cabinet wants to lobby Brussels to bring back pulse fishing, which was banned by the EU in 2021. But there is little goodwill left after Dutch civil servants were caught skewing the figures to boost the number of pulse fishing permits issued before the ban came in.Tax cutsMuch of the spending plans still need to be filled in, but the cabinet has promised €2 billion in tax cuts for middle-income earners through an extra income tax band and virtually free childcare for working families.
Energy and fuel taxes will also either be cut or have existing concessions extended. However, there will be no increase in the minimum wage and the period covered by unemployment insurance is likely to be cut from two years to 18 months.
The left-wing opposition has criticised the agreement an essentially neoliberal programme that will leave the poorest and most vulnerable worse off, despite Omtzigt’s promises to make bestaanszekerheid, or a secure basic standard of living, a priority.
They also criticise the plan to give company directors and major shareholders a 2% income tax cut, while civil servants are having their pay frozen.“Built on quicksand”Frans Timmermans, leader of GL-PvdA alliance, said it was “disastrous for employees, disastrous for the government and built on quicksand.”
Other policies risk conflicting with each other, such as the pledge to raise the motorway speed limit to 130 km/h again.
The daytime limit of 100 km/h was brought in five years ago so that the construction industry could keep running following the Council of State’s decision on nitrogen compound emissions. Yet the plans still contain a commitment to build 100,000 new homes a year.
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Post by pieter on May 16, 2024 10:20:06 GMT -7
After six months, Dutch parties reach government deal23 hours ago Paul Kirby,BBC News Geert Wilders's far-right Freedom Party won most seats in the November electionsAlmost six months after Dutch anti-Islam populist leader Geert Wilders won the Dutch election, he and three other party leaders have agreed a provisional agreement to form a right-wing government.
A final decision has not been made on the next Dutch prime minister, but it will not be Mr Wilders, who gave up the chance in a bid to secure a deal.
"We have a negotiators' agreement and we will now put it to our [parliamentary] factions," the Freedom Party leader told journalists.
If they agree, his party will go into government with the conservative-liberal VVD, the centrist New Social Contract and the Farmer Citizens Movement (BBB).
Mr Wilders' far-right PVV attracted a quarter of the national vote in last November's election, after agreeing to put on hold some of his more extreme policies, such as banning the Quran, Islamic schools and mosques.
His victory stunned European politics, following 14 years of broad-based coalitions led by VVD Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who has continued as caretaker prime minister since the election.
But the four-party talks on forming a right-wing coalition collapsed in February, and by March Mr Wilders had abandoned his bid to become prime minister.
The man who brokered that first round of talks, Ronald Plasterk, is now favourite to be offered the job of prime minister. A 67-year-old former Labour party minister, he gave up a flourishing academic career as a molecular biologist to go into politics.
![https://eydaily.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Plasterk-persco-scaled.jpg](https://eydaily.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Plasterk-persco-scaled.jpg) Ronald Hans Anton Plasterk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈroːnɑlt ˈɦɑns ˈɑntɔm ˈplɑstɛr(ə)k]; born 12 April 1957) is a Dutch scientist, entrepreneur and retired politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). Plasterk is mentioned as the possible new Prime Minister in the newto form rightwing PVV-VVD-NSC-BBB cabinet. Probably, because he has experience as a former minister in a Cabinet, because he is not a member of one of the 4 political parties in the new cabinet, and because after he finished his political carreer had more conservative stances on immigration than his own Labour Party. That made him popular with the PVV and BBB parties in this new rightwing 4 party coalition. Plasterk has earned a PhD degree in biology, specialised in molecular genetics. Being a former Minister in the Cabinet of the Netherlands, he has been the founder and CEO of Frame Cancer Therapeutics since December 2018. Next to his work at Frame, he has been appointed as professor at the University of Amsterdam since September 2018. In November 2023, Plasterk was appointed scout during the 2023–2024 Dutch cabinet formation, and he later became informateur for a coalition consisting of the PVV, the VVD, NSC, and BBB. The week before Plasterk would release his report – in February 2024 – NSC pulled out of the talks, citing financial setbacks and Plasterk's delayed information about them. Plasterk called the statement "muddled" and denied having withheld details. In his final report, he advised the four parties to continue talking, and Kim Putters was selected as the new informateur.[
Mr Wilders, 60, said no decision had yet been made on who would lead the government, although it had been discussed in the negotiations.
The deal came hours before the latest deadline imposed by the current coalition negotiators and Mr Wilders warned that adjustments could still be made to the deal. Parliament will then debate the terms next week.
When asked what had taken them so long, the leader of the conservative-liberal VVD, Dilan Yesilgöz, pointed out that they were after all "setting the framework for the next government".
Her VVD came a poor third in the election and lost 10 seats in parliament.
Few details have emerged of the four parties' plans for government, although they are expected to adopt hardline policies on asylum and immigration. According to political correspondents, there are particularly strong measures on migrant workers, although the government would continue to respect international agreements.
Significant investment is also expected in social security and housing as well as defence and agriculture.
The four party leaders are not expected to be part of the new cabinet but will remain in parliament.
Unusually, the so-called extra-parliamentary cabinet is likely to be made up of ministers who are not in the parliament either, but will have to follow the main terms of the agreement.
The head of the Farmer Citizen Movement, Caroline van der Plas, said it was "very nice for the Netherlands" that they had reached a deal.
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 4:21:26 GMT -7
Folks,
This is the most rightwing government the Netherlands has had after the Second World War German Nazi occupational government during the Second World War in the Netherlands (5 years, May 1940-May 1945). Thank God the Far right part of this new coalition, the PVV-BBB part is leveled out by the Center Right VVD-NSC part, but stil it is a very rightwing Coalition government which comes close to Victor Orban's Hungarian government and the former PiS government in Poland. Geert Wilders Freedom Party, the PVV, will have to prove itself. It is the largest Dutch political party in parliament. This government will face a fierce opposition of the left and center left in parliament; From GreenLeftLabour Party, the progressive center left Social Liberal D66 party, the Socialist Party (SP), the Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren), the Christian Democratic CDA and the social Christian ChristianUnion (ChristenUnie).
Pieter
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 4:27:56 GMT -7
October 11, 2023Live from TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht: a conversation with Bernie Sanders! About alternatives to capitalism, the fight against income and wealth inequality, tackling the climate crisis and countering extremism. With Frans Timmermans, leader of GroenLinks-PvdA, and in collaboration with Greenpeace and FNV (the largest Dutch Labour Union).
The famous American politician Bernie Sanders tells it like it is. He holds a mirror up to the US and the rest of the world. Why do we accept an economic system that runs on the depletion of people and the planet? Can this be done differently?
This evening is organized by the GroenLinks Scientific Bureau and the Wiardi Beckman Foundation in collaboration with Bot Uitgevers. The event fits within the Gaia lecture series of the GroenLinks Scientific Bureau.Link: GroenLinks Scientific Bureau www.wetenschappelijkbureaugroenlinks.nl/
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 4:46:47 GMT -7
At the GroenLinks Scientific Bureau GroenLinks political scientists work on the development of green and left-wing ideas. As a think tank, they feed politicians with relevant insights from science and society. They also contribute to the social debate and to the renewal of the GroenLinks election manifestos.To researchConducting research and publishing about it is the core of their work as a scientific agency. This leads to political recommendations at local, provincial, national and European level. On the Research and publications page you can read which projects we are currently carrying out or have recently completed. There is also an overview of books and reports that they have published over the years. These can be downloaded for free or can be ordered at cost price.Articles, videos and podcastsAs a scientific agency, we regularly publish opinion pieces, background articles and videos that result from the research we conduct. We also ask authors from outside our organization for contributions on specific topics. On this page you will find an overview of all our articles. In our podcasts we have conversations with thinkers and doers who make the world fairer and more sustainable.Lectures, seminars and conferencesSeveral times a year they organize lectures, conferences and webinars, including the annual Gaia lecture. Where possible, they ensure that their meetings are filmed and streamed to make them accessible to a wider audience. In addition, their project leaders regularly participate in offline and online meetings of GroenLinks departments or social organizations.Magazine de Helling (the hill)They produce magazine De Helling (The Hill), a quarterly opinionated magazine about society, politics, culture and science. We do this in collaboration with publisher Virtùmedia. De Helling (The Hill) has an independent editorial team and focuses on everyone who is interested in green and left-wing politics in the broadest sense of the word. The magazine of the GroenLinks Scientific Bureau is de Helling (the Hill). The Hill (De Helling) contains thorough scientific articles, essays on the Dutch economy and society, and essays on Foreign Affairs, International Politics and the climate. The articles and essays are written by scientists, political scientists, economists, members of parliament and philosophers. De Hellling (The Hill) is a political magazine for left-wing intellectuals and people interested in GroenLinks.CooperationAs a scientific agency, the GroenLinks Scientific Bureau works together with the GroenLinks-PvdA (PvdA = Labour) factions in the Senate and House of Representatives and Europe, with the GroenLinks Academy, the national office and with active working groups within GroenLinks. For example, we are secretary of the program committees for the House of Representatives elections and the European Parliament. They work together with the Green European Foundation and its network of green think tanks on cross-border exchange of ideas.
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 6:36:49 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 6:36:58 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 6:49:27 GMT -7
All rumors say that Ronald Plasterk, a former Labour Minister in Fourth Balkenende cabinet of the Netherlands (22 February 2007 - 14 October 2010), will be the New Dutch Prime Minister. He is popular in Geert Wilders Freedom Party (PVV), because he is a conservative Labour politician from the rightwing wing of the Center Left Labour Party. He was critical about the immigration policies of the Rutte cabinets from 2010 until 2024. Therefor he is a good candidate to be the next Dutch Prime Minister of the Rightwing PVV-VVD_NSC-BBB party coalition lead by Geert Wilders.![https://media.nieuwspaal.nl/geert-wilders-ronald-plasterk-pvv-pvda.jpg](https://media.nieuwspaal.nl/geert-wilders-ronald-plasterk-pvv-pvda.jpg) ![https://images0.persgroep.net/rcs/AqP1HYD0RHFF6aSG9pX7MXG29fY/diocontent/238106512/_fill/1212/900/?appId=21791a8992982cd8da851550a453bd7f&quality=0.9](https://images0.persgroep.net/rcs/AqP1HYD0RHFF6aSG9pX7MXG29fY/diocontent/238106512/_fill/1212/900/?appId=21791a8992982cd8da851550a453bd7f&quality=0.9) ![https://bnr-external-prod.imgix.net/402540-402550.jpeg?auto=format&ixlib=react-9.8.1](https://bnr-external-prod.imgix.net/402540-402550.jpeg?auto=format&ixlib=react-9.8.1) ![https://image.volkskrant.nl/240612385/width/2480/ronald-plasterk-schudt-geert-wilders-de-hand-na-een-debat-over](https://image.volkskrant.nl/240612385/width/2480/ronald-plasterk-schudt-geert-wilders-de-hand-na-een-debat-over) ![https://images0.persgroep.net/rcs/KjyNtpGClvbD0rZS69A0Cy7RqVI/diocontent/238109564/_fill/1265/900/?appId=21791a8992982cd8da851550a453bd7f&quality=0.9](https://images0.persgroep.net/rcs/KjyNtpGClvbD0rZS69A0Cy7RqVI/diocontent/238109564/_fill/1265/900/?appId=21791a8992982cd8da851550a453bd7f&quality=0.9) ![https://img.nieuwsblad.be/ZftAKeQQP1h9E160cellPDDHq2E=/fit-in/960x640/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.nieuwsblad.be%2FAssets%2FImages_Upload%2F2024%2F05%2F16%2F47d21661-544e-4f04-a982-54ec44518faa.jpg](https://img.nieuwsblad.be/ZftAKeQQP1h9E160cellPDDHq2E=/fit-in/960x640/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.nieuwsblad.be%2FAssets%2FImages_Upload%2F2024%2F05%2F16%2F47d21661-544e-4f04-a982-54ec44518faa.jpg) ![https://www.dutchnews.nl/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ANP-Wilders-Plasterk-RS.jpg](https://www.dutchnews.nl/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ANP-Wilders-Plasterk-RS.jpg) ![https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iRw9KP6iBQiA/v1/-1x-1.jpg](https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iRw9KP6iBQiA/v1/-1x-1.jpg) ![https://cdn.nos.nl/image/2024/02/14/1052635/1024x576a.jpg](https://cdn.nos.nl/image/2024/02/14/1052635/1024x576a.jpg) Geert Wilders with the party leader of the conservative liberal VVD, Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius (born 18 June 1977). She has also served as Minister of Justice and Security in the fourth Rutte cabinet since 10 January 2022. Yeşilgöz was Mark Rutte's successor as party leader of the conservative liberal VVD. Yeşilgöz previously served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2017 to 2021 and as State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy from 2021 until 2022. Yeşilgöz is more conservative than the moderate Mark Rutte, whom actually was a progressive liberal of the leftwing wing of the VVD party when he was younger. Mark Rutte was the leader of the Youth Wing of the VVD in his student time when he studied History at the university of Amsterdam. Rutte has great historical knowledge. Yeşilgöz is from the rightwing wing of her VVD party and is tough on immigration and refugees. Therefor she can get along with Geert Wilders. Prime Minister Mark Rutte at a party congress of the center right conservative liberal VVD party Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius and Geert Wilders![https://cms-assets.nporadio.nl/npoRadio1/_videoThumbnail/ANP-484192722.jpg?v=1700569636](https://cms-assets.nporadio.nl/npoRadio1/_videoThumbnail/ANP-484192722.jpg?v=1700569636) ![https://image.parool.nl/238522789/width/2480/dilan-yesilgoez-vvd-en-geert-wilders-pvv-tijdens-het-debat](https://image.parool.nl/238522789/width/2480/dilan-yesilgoez-vvd-en-geert-wilders-pvv-tijdens-het-debat) Members of the New Rightwing coalition cabinet gather around a table in the Dutch House of Representatives. Body lanuage often speak louder than words. On the right Geert Wilders and Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius and on the left former (leftwing) Socialist Party leader Lilian Marijnissen during a debate in the time of elections in November 2023 Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius and Geert Wilders Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius during a press conference Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius and Pieter Omtzigt of the NSC rightwing coalition party. Geert Wilders in front. Geert Wilders (right) next to his political rival Frans Timmermans, the leader of the leftwing opposition party, GreenLeft-Labour. If looks could kill! Two Southern, South-East, Limburg boys, opposite political directions!![https://media.nu.nl/m/xumxuejafwxy_wd854/yesilgoz-houdt-vol-vvd-niet-in-kabinet-kiezer-geeft-aan-dat-het-anders-moet.jpg](https://media.nu.nl/m/xumxuejafwxy_wd854/yesilgoz-houdt-vol-vvd-niet-in-kabinet-kiezer-geeft-aan-dat-het-anders-moet.jpg) ![https://eenvandaag.assets.avrotros.nl/_processed_/5/1/csm_dc954e9ae61aa34e007b_43a604533b.jpg](https://eenvandaag.assets.avrotros.nl/_processed_/5/1/csm_dc954e9ae61aa34e007b_43a604533b.jpg) ![https://image.trouw.nl/237874746/width/2480/vvd-leider-dilan-yesilgoz-reageert-op-de-uitslagen-van-de-tw](https://image.trouw.nl/237874746/width/2480/vvd-leider-dilan-yesilgoz-reageert-op-de-uitslagen-van-de-tw) Pieter Omtzigt and Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius Carline van der Plas from the Farmer Citizens movement BBB and Geert Wilders![https://image.trouw.nl/241915060/width/2480/caroline-van-der-plas-bbb-en-geert-wilders-pvv-tijdens-het](https://image.trouw.nl/241915060/width/2480/caroline-van-der-plas-bbb-en-geert-wilders-pvv-tijdens-het) Geert Wilders and Carline van der Plas of the BBB rightwing coalition party. Their rival Rob Jetten, of the progressive liberal D66 party in front. Carline van der Plas and Geert Wilders in the Dutch House of Representatives Geert Wilders and Pieter Omtzigt during the months long negotiations. I do believe that Geert Wilders has matured a bit due to these heavy political negotiations and became more moderate during the negotiations from november until May today. Geert Wilders and Pieter Omtzigt Geert Wilders and Pieter Omtzigt Geert Wilders and Pieter Omtzigt Geert Wilders and Pieter Omtzigt Geert Wilders and Pieter Omtzigt
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 7:42:02 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 7:47:09 GMT -7
16 may 2024
Geert Wilders, the winner of the Dutch election, said he sealed a tentative agreement to form a right-wing coalition government after months of talks. Wilders's far-right Freedom Party won the most seats in the election almost six months ago, but he has been unable to assemble an administration until now. Bloomberg's Cagan Koc reports.
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 7:49:49 GMT -7
16 may 2024 #netherlands #rightwing #asylumseekers
A right-wing Dutch coalition dominated by hard-right nationalists is on course for an early confrontation with the European Union over asylum rules and environmental legislation.
The new government, which said its motto would be “hope, courage and pride”, is dominated by populists after the shock victory of Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV) in elections six months ago.
“We are making history today,” Wilders said, announcing his new coalition with three other populist and conservative parties on Thursday morning. “We will go from being the largest opposition party to the largest government party. The sun will shine again in the Netherlands.”
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 7:53:59 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 7:55:59 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 7:57:57 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on May 17, 2024 8:01:37 GMT -7
Dutch government veers sharply right after four-party coalition deal
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