ChristenUnie rules out participation in cabinet with Rutte as Prime Minister

The ChristenUnie will not join the next government if conservative party VVD leader Mark Rutte becomes prime minister again. Under Rutte's leadership, a new cabinet "cannot credibly" bring about a cultural change, says the party leader of the Christian party Gert-Jan Segers in the national newspaper Nederlands Dagblad.

Segers explained that last week "something broke" among the leader of the ChristenUnie, as a result of which he no longer wants to cooperate with VVD leader Rutte in a new cabinet. "The truth is handled in a way that is very problematic for us. It was the straw that broke the bucket."

According to the leader of the ChristenUnie, "too much has happened" to join a new cabinet under Rutte. "The existing culture, in which elections seem to be an annoying interruption and in which counter-power is hindered, we cannot be part of that culture anyway." Segers says that he has now personally informed Rutte of this decision.

As far as Segers is concerned, cooperation with the VVD in a subsequent cabinet is still possible, but with another prime minister. "It is about Rutte as the leading image-bearer of the political culture of the past ten years. It is not credible if the man responsible for that culture is going to lead the cabinet to change that culture."

According to Segers, the formation is in an extremely complicated impasse, but that is not the deciding factor for him now. "If you ask me whether a different political culture is more important than simply continuing the formation quickly, my answer is yes."

Function Omtzigt

Rutte came under heavy fire in the House of Representatives on Thursday. It then became clear that he had spoken with former pathfinders Annemarie Jorritsma and Kasja Ollongren about the position of the critical CDA MP Pieter Omtzigt, while he had previously denied this.

Almost the entire House supported a motion of censure against Rutte. A vote of no confidence was not held, as current coalition members CDA, D66, and ChristenUnie voted against the motion. 

Segers calls this motion of no confidence a great dilemma. "Do we want to decapitate a cabinet in the middle of the corona crisis, thereby only increasing the political chaos? We did not dare to take responsibility for that. But we do not want to go back to business as usual."