Cabinet crisis: Coalition leaders to discuss election landslide tonight

The significance of the coalition parties’ losses during the recent provincial elections, and the impressive victory by the right-wing political party BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB), will be discussed by the top members of the Cabinet on Tuesday evening. Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Deputy Prime Ministers Sigrid Kaag, Wopke Hoekstra and Carola Schouten will attempt to examine what is fueling the dissatisfaction and unease in the Netherlands.

The political leaders will also discuss whether consequences should be attached to the voters’ decision: Should one of the key issues, like nitrogen emissions policy and environmental concerns, force the coalition to rip up their agreement and renegotiate?

The BBB strongly opposes the government's nitrogen policy, which is based on a halving all nitrogen emissions by 2030, which will require farmers in particular to make a major contribution. BBB leader Caroline van der Plas rode a wave of popularity to make the BBB the

largest political party in all provincial councils from scratch. The BBB is expected to become the largest party in the Senate with seventeen seats, making the party impossible to ignore at the national level despite having only one seat in the Tweede Kamer for the time being.

According to the Cabinet leaders, voter dissatisfaction is deeper and broader than just nitrogen. Growing poverty and inequality in the country, and rising prices are also playing a role. The long-running issues including a housing shortage, the asylum reception crisis and climate challenges have also caused discontent.

Rutte has said several times that the BBB's big gains are a strong signal from the voter, and that he wants to evaluate how the Cabinet should deal with this. Since his party's election defeat, CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra has also continued to repeat that the voter's "crystal clear signal" cannot be ignored.

"We do not have on blinders, and are continuing to keep an eye on the changed circumstances," Kaag (D66) also said at the weekly press conference on Friday.

In her view, a balance must be struck between the government's ambitions laid down in the coalition agreement and today's reality. The coalition agreement states that nitrogen emissions must be halved by 2030. For the CDA, that year is no longer set in stone, and the VVD also seems to want to shift. For now, the D66 is sticking to the 2030 deadline.