Timmermans willing to work with NSC, Omtzigt reluctant
GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans thinks his party can work with Pieter Omtzigt’s NSC in a coalition, he said after a self-organized debate between the two party leaders in Arnhem on Monday. Omtzigt was much more hesitant about cooperating with the left-wing collaboration, pointing out their differences, NOS reports.
“I haven’t really heard anything that we couldn’t compromise on,” Timmermans said at the end of the debate. What matters to him is that things change, and he does not see that happening if the VVD keeps forming part of the ruling coalition. According to Timmermans, the only difference the VVD wants to implement compared to the Rutte period is where it puts its emphasis.
Omtzigt is hesitant about future collaboration, emphasizing that there are things he and Timmermans disagree on, including climate policy, nuclear energy, and migration. On migration, he expects to achieve results more easily “on the right,” which includes the VVD. “A new crop of politicians is ready, and as far as I am concerned, Ms. Yesilgöz is also one of them,” he said, referring to the new VVD leader, Dilan Yesilgöz, currently Minister of Justice and Security.
Timmermans was again clear about his intent to become Prime Minister to achieve his party’s goals. Omtzigt again dithered on that point. After the elections, he wants to be in the place where he can do his best, and that could also be parliament, he said.
Nuclear energy
Like in the College Tour election debate last week, Omtzigt and Timmermans again disagreed about nuclear energy. Omtzigt sees it as a solution in the energy transition, and Timmermans sees it as a distraction.
In the debate on Monday, Timmermans called nuclear energy risky, very expensive, and challenging to realize - time and effort that could be spent on improving and expanding sustainable energy generation. Omtzigt countered that the energy transition can’t happen without it, partly because the wind does not always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. According to him, sustainable energy does not produce enough to eliminate polluting fossil fuels without nuclear energy.
According to the latest poll by Maurice de Hond, dated 28 October 2023, the NSC could get 31 seats in the parliamentary elections on November 22, making it the largest party in the Tweede Kamer. The VVD is second in the polls with a projected 26 seats, followed by GroenLinks-PvdA with 24.
