Some VVD members lash out at party leader as they want to be part of next Cabinet

Over 350 supporters and opponents of VVD leader Dilan Yeşilöz’s decision to offer tacit support to a center-right Cabinet of PVV, NSC, and BBB gathered at a party meeting on Wednesday evening to let off steam about that choice. There were expressions of support for this course, but many more dissidents. A call from one of the VVD members to not tolerate but participate fully in government was received with loud and long applause.

According to the VVD member, the liberal voters have asked the party for “maximum responsibility. If you put that interest first and if you want a center-right Cabinet to emerge, then stand on the platform with capable Ministers,” the man urged. He understands Yeşilöz’s “politically strategic move,” but he cannot explain it to the voters.

Other VVD members present agreed. “We are not a party that has lost ten seats, we are the third largest party in the country. I and many others do not understand that the VVD only wants to tolerate and does not want to govern.”

Many proponents of full Cabinet participation also do not understand that the Rutte IV government collapsed on asylum migration, and then the VVD does not want to form a Cabinet with a party that also wants to substantially reduce migration.

VVD prominent Frans Weisglas called on Yeşilöz and the faction not to do business with the PVV, not even as a tolerating partner. He said he was disappointed when, after the fall of the Cabinet, first VVD parliamentarian Ruben Brekelmans and then Yeşilöz opened the door to the PVV. “A liberal party should not cooperate with the PVV in a Cabinet,” Weisglas said. The PVV violates the rule of law with its positions, he said.

Weisglas believes that the VVD should also not promise tacit support to a Cabinet with the PVV. “Then you commit yourself to a Cabinet. If you do not tolerate, you retain your freedom.”

Some people think the tacit support construction is a great move. “I see a lot of differences between the parties. It is good that we are not going into a Cabinet,” said one of those present. “Don’t give an inch,” another added. The watery compromises of recent years have not done the party any good, the woman said.

Yeşilgöz reacted strongly to the accusation by several disappointed VVD members that the party was abandoning its current position. “We are not backing down, but we are taking our responsibility from the Kamer.” The Tweede Kamer is the lower house of the Dutch parliament.

Despite the intense criticism, Yeşilgöz feels supported to negotiate on content with PVV, NSC, and BBB as a tolerating partner, she said after the party meeting in Utrecht. “The VVD’s vision is clear. I don’t see that changing. But in terms of content, I have only received extra support to get started with it.” Yeşilgöz said.

Yeşilgöz acknowledged that opinions differ about how the VVD wants to participate in the Cabinet - as a tolerating partner, a government partner, or in the opposition. “But that is part of a broad popular party like the VVD.”

With a total of 64 seats for PVV, NSC, and BBB, voters say “that it must not continue as it was,” Yeşilgöz told the VVD members. After losing ten seats, the VVD “needs to recharge our batteries,” the party leader reiterated. “We have the gold in our hands to come out of this stronger. We will do our best from the Kamer to make a difference in terms of content.”

Her words were received with a standing ovation, including by the VVD members who strongly criticized the decision not to fully participate in a Cabinet. The call from several members to have confidence in the faction and to support the new party leader was met with loud applause and cheering.

Not long before the VVD meeting, it became clear that Pieter Omtzigt (NSC) was not yet ready to negotiate with the PVV. Yeşilgöz does not see this as a problem but rather as a “constructive attitude” on Omtzigt’s part. “We are ready to negotiate, but it is up to the scout to ultimately provide balanced advice after follow-up discussions.”