Grants must replace student loans, or CDA members say they’ll denounce new coalition

Members of the CDA voted in favor of a proposal to not allow the party to join a coalition “if the abolition of the loan system and compensation for the unlucky generation is not regulated in the coalition agreement”.

Around 70 percent of the CDA members voted in favor of the proposal. Especially young CDA members argued against the student loan system, stating it “put a wedge in society”.

“We now have the opportunity to show all young people what Christian democracy means”, the CDA members said.

Party leader Wopke Hoekstra assured that the abolition of the student loan system is part of the plans of the CDA, but stressed that the party will tackle one point at a time.

Interim party chairman Marnix van Rij did not want members to make the student loan system a breaking point. “To give a breaking point to the political leaders is to give them a burden”, Van Rij said.

Hoekstra called for “unity, togetherness and bravery”, during the CDA congress in Den Bosch on Saturday. “The unity in our party has been missing since June of last year”, Hoekstra said.

Although Hoekstra has stated that the CDA has been working towards finding a coalition agreement, he still does not want to govern together with the PvdA and GroenLinks.