Parties clash on dental care, Israel military aid, health insurance a week before election

One week before the parliamentary election, the leaders of the four largest parties in the polls - NSC, VVD, GroenLinks-PvdA, and PVV - debated migration, dental care, and healthcare in a debate on SBS6 on Wednesday. In a separate debate in The Hague, candidates of the VVD and CDA faced fire over the Netherlands still providing Israel with parts for their F-35 fighter jets used to bomb Gaza.

Dental and healthcare

Far-right PVV and left-wing GroenLinks-PvdA have little in common, but they did find agreement when it comes to free oral care. A visit to the dentist should be included in the basic health insurance package, both Geert Wilders (PVV) and Frans Timmermans (GroenLinks-PvdA) believe.

Including dental care in the basic insurance will make healthcare more expensive, but the measure also saves a lot of costs, Timmermans pointed out. Regular dental visits prevent worse ailments that often cost a lot of money to remedy. Wilders also wants to make oral care free so that people can visit the dentist more often.

The VVD does not want to make the dentist free but take other measures so that people “have more money in their pockets,” said VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz.

Wilders said that the VVD is partly responsible for the “collapse” of regional hospitals. “I am very sorry, Ms. Yeşilgöz,” he said to the leader of the party that’s been in power for 13 years. The PVV leader was talking about the location of the Zuyderland Hospital in Heerlen, which wants to move all emergency care to Sittard-Geleen due to staff shortages.

Yeşilgöz also said during the debate that she would prefer that Zuyderland Hospital not close any departments. “But, here too, we must tell the honest story.” By that, she meant that there is a staff shortage in healthcare, and the departments can only remain open if enough well-trained people can work there. She wants to achieve this, for example, with a bonus for employees who wish to work more hours.

Wilders proposed that “the four of us” agree that the hospital in Heerlen will remain open. The other attendees seemed to agree with this, but each interpreted what they meant in their own way. Timmermans, for example, wants to make childcare a government task and thus help the staff. Pieter Omtzigt (NSC) explained that “really complex” care cannot always be provided nearby. “Stop going on about it; you agree!” the debate leader Wilfred Genee eventually interrupted the politicians talking over each other.

Migration and staff shortages

On migration, Wilders’ PVV and Timmermans’ Groenlinks-PvdA are “two extremes,” Yeşilgöz said. According to the VVD leader, Timmermans denies problems caused by migration, and Wilders inflates them.

“Both extremes do not do justice to people’s problems,” said Yeşilgöz. Timmermans shot back: “That from someone from a party that’s been in power for 13 years.”

Earlier in the debate, Timmermans and Wilders had a fierce clash. The PVV leader critically said that more than half of large cities’ residents are “immigrants.” Timmermans felt Wilders was discriminating and ignoring people whose families have lived in the Netherlands for generations.

Omtzigt wanted to talk about migrant workers. “We should be ashamed of the poor working conditions of migrant workers,” he said. Omtzigt wants to significantly reduce labor migration. Among other things, he wants fewer distribution centers, where many migrant workers work. He also wants to make agreements in the European Union to limit labor migration.

Omtzigt found support from GroenLinks-PvdA and the VVD. Timmermans also wants to shape the Dutch economy differently so that fewer migrant workers are needed. He also wants migrant workers to no longer receive housing that is linked to their jobs. In that way, they won’t lose their home if they lose their job.

Yeşilgöz wants to invest in automation so that fewer migrant workers are needed. She also wants to provide extra money to help migrant workers who wish to return to their home country. “This really is a full-circle story; that’s why it works.”

Doubts about Wilders’ “milder” attitude

Wilders’ apparently milder attitude raised eyebrows among his opponents Yeşilgöz and Timmermans. The PVV leader promised to put his positions on Islam, for example, on hold in order to collaborate.

“The real Wilders has yet to stand up,” Yeşilgöz said in the TV debate. Timmermans is also not convinced that Wilders will really take less extreme positions. “It is the same Wilders who has been sowing division for 19 years.”

Wilders said he did not want to put refugees but the Dutch “first” when distributing social housing. “That is exactly why Wilders should not be in control in this country, because he discriminates,” Timmermans said.

Omtzigt won’t let his NSC govern with the PVV as long as the party’s election program states that there is no room for Islamic schools, mosques, or the Koran in the Netherlands, he said. “You cannot form a government with those positions,” Omtzigt said. He said he understands PVV voters’ concerns about migration. “But you have to abide by the constitution.”

The PVV can help a right-wing Cabinet gain a majority. A coalition of the VVD, NSC, PVV, and BBB have a large majority based on current polls.

Military aid to Israel

In a separate debate in The Hague, VVD and CDA candidates faced much criticism about the Netherlands supplying parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel. Ruben Brekelmans (VVD) said these deliveries are part of an international program and that the Netherlands would be an unreliable partner if it stopped doing so. Jasper van Dijk (SP) accused the liberal party of “downplaying” the many civilian deaths on the Palestinian side. The Netherlands is partly to blame for this due to the supply of parts, he said.

Derk Boswijk (CDA) stressed that his party is not uncritical toward Israel and believes that the country should be held accountable if there are human rights violations. He got booed by the audience when he said it was “way too early” to say that.

Boswijk reacted indignantly to Doğukan Ergin's (DENK) question about whether he sleeps well at night. “We were the first to say: come up with those humanitarian corridors.”

Politicians from GroenLinks-PvdA, D66, PvdD, BIJ1, and DENK also condemned the delivery of fighter jet parts. Kati Piri (GL-PvdA) believes it is the Netherlands’ “duty” to ensure that deliveries do not lead to human rights violations. “No such requirements have been made for this delivery,” she said. That has happened with arms deliveries to Ukraine, she pointed out.

The candidate MPs spoke about the situation in Israel and Palestine during an election debate organized by Amnesty International Netherlands, Oxfam Novib, The Rights Forum, Save the Children, and PAX.