
Coalition agreement approved by all four parties
The VVD, D66, CDA, and ChristenUnie factions all four approved the coalition agreement. The CDA was first to do so, followed by the D66, the ChristenUnie, and the VVD early on Tuesday evening.
The CDA is "very satisfied" with the proposals, party leader Wopke Hoestra announced after a five hours-long meeting at the party office in The Hague. There are, "as always," a few points Hoekstra was hesitant about. But those are real details, he said. There is "great satisfaction, and we can get started," Hoekstra said. CDA faction members recently "participated in thinking, co-negotiating, and co-writing to a significant extent." According to Hoekstra, many things looked as expected, and "partly for that reason, there is great satisfaction" with many matters in the agreement.
D66 leader Sigrid Kaag announced her party's acceptance of the coalition agreement. According to Kaag, there was a "very positive reception," and the D66 parliamentarians "consented with conviction." When asked whether her party members asked for adjustments, Kaag said that "every party has things, smaller wishes." "But as far as I'm concerned, we have to look at the big picture, themes, the choices that have been made. Where the big predominates, you sometimes have to be able to drop the small."
"We won more things than four years ago," ChristenUnie leader Gert-Jan Segers said when announcing his party's approval. He said he is taking a "few points" back to the informateurs. Segers called it a "good agreement" that contains "many of our ideals." Medical ethical issues remain "very difficult," he acknowledged. He would not say on which points the smallest party in the coalition would like adjustments. But it "seems strong to me if it still fails at the ChristenUnie, but we have our wishes."
The VVD faction approved the coalition agreement, deputy party leader Sophie Hermans announced to the cheers of the faction members. "The agreement has been received very positively by the faction," Hermans said. She is going to discuss "some points" with the informateurs. She declined to go into details or say what the complicated issues were. "The agreement as a whole has been received positively." She said the 34 VVD parliamentarians took their time to discuss. "It's an agreement that we have to work within the coming years. So I thought it was essential that we took the time we needed."
The party leaders will meet again on Wednesday morning with the informateurs to discuss their parliamentary factions' requested adjustments. After that, the agreement will be presented to the public.
Reporting by ANP