NSC leader Omtzigt to temporarily step down “for health reasons” after “intense” year

Dutch parliamentarian Pieter Omtzigt said he will temporarily withdraw from his role as the leader of Dutch political party NSC out of concern for his own well-being. Omtzigt announced his decision on X soon after EW Magazine published a report on Wednesday about rumors he was going to quit his job outright. The NSC leader also took an extended burnout leave in 2021 after then-Prime Minister Mark Rutte urged colleagues to find a way to coerce Omtzigt, who was then a CDA member, out of Parliament.

Omtzigt said on Wednesday he “will take a step back” during the coming weeks, but without being more specific about his leave. “The past year has been exceptionally intense and that means that, for health reasons, I will be working more in the background and less in the spotlight for the coming weeks.” He will not attend the crucial debate on the budget that traditionally follows Prinsjesdag, when the Cabinet's budget proposal is presented on the third Tuesday of September. He will be replaced by Nicolien van Vroonhoven, who insisted Omtzigt will again take the reins when he's healthy enough to return.

The four parties in the current coalition have hardly shown signs of trust between each other, and the tense atmosphere again boiled over during their talks about next year’s budget. A marathon session that started on the evening of September 1 devolved into a shouting match before it finally ended at 4 a.m. the following day. Omtzigt was rumored to have broken down in tears several times, and sources close to the talks said he repeatedly lashed out in anger.

“It was a mess again. [Omtzigt] was in a state,” sources within the NSC told the Telegraaf about the meeting. He reportedly stepped out of the meeting repeatedly, and was consistently agitated. Instead of sticking to his notion of the party leaders being distinct and separate from Prime Minister Dick Schoof’s Cabinet, he was accused of continuously breaking off talks to hold private discussions with NSC party members in the Cabinet.

Omtzigt was also criticized for expressing dismay over higher birthrates in African countries as opposed to the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. He was accused of presenting a nationalistic and xenophobic view in his speech at an annual event organized by EW Magazine. He defended himself, saying he was making an honest observation with concern about "geopolitical implications."

Senior-level NSC sources later told EW they were concerned about his state of mind after both the budget meeting and the speech. He was often absent from party meetings in the ten days following the tense budget negotiation, and they believed he would temporarily step down. The sources cautioned that it was possible he could permanently stop from either or both of his roles as the Tweede Kamer leader and the party chair.

Sources in the top of the party are worried about the leader of NSC. They think they have to protect Omtzigt from himself by prescribing him some rest. They do not rule out that Omtzigt will eventually stop as party chairman and political leader.

Omtzigt founded the NSC ahead of last year’s election to determine the new membership of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament. His outsider bid was meant to be a sign of hope for those who wanted to see new opinions in national politics, and those frustrated by the toxic atmosphere in The Hague. His party won 20 seats in that election, although many voters soon came to regret their decision.

The NSC wound up joining a coalition comprised of the far-right PVV, a party often accused of bullying and divisiveness, and the VVD, which kept Rutte in office as prime minister for over a decade. Omtzigt was a key politician responsible for exposing the childcare benefits scandal that unfairly accused thousand of parents of defrauding the government based on the harsh and unforgiving application of an algorithm that also used data points about a family's nationality and ethnicity.

The issue led to the collapse of Rutte's third Cabinet in 2021, and new elections soon followed. The same parties from that coalition, the VVD, D66, CDA and ChristenUnie, won enough seats to form a majority with Rutte helming a fourth Cabinet. During those negotiations, Rutte made clear that he wanted his colleagues to find any available job that might entice Omtzigt to leave the Tweede Kamer. Notes about the meeting were jotted down on a piece of paper which was photographed as former D66 politician Kajsa Ollongren quickly exited due to the possible exposure to Covid-19.

That April, as coalition talks dragged on, Omtzigt said he needed a break and stepped down for his health. This was extended in May, which he explained by writing, "A number of plenary debates in parliament that were just a little too much about me and not about the very urgent problems of the Netherlands, as well as a long series of articles and speculations in the media about me, did not exactly give me any level of peace."

A period of in-fighting within his own CDA followed, and Omtzigt announced his resignation from that party. He returned to the Tweede Kamer in September as an independent, and remained a small faction when the new Cabinet took office in January 2022. When that coalition fell in July 2024, Omtzigt announced the formation of his own party, the Nieuw Sociaal Contract, or NSC.

His popularity remained high, and he called for unity and positivity while simultaneously using xenophobic arguments to attack an income tax credit used to lure highly-skilled and highly-educated foreign workers living abroad. His plan passed Parliament easily, causing chaos among major international businesses, which soon started to look for investment and expansion opportunities outside of the Netherlands.

After the election, Omtzigt went on to spend more than seven months haggling over a coalition agreement with Geert Wilders, the leader of the far-right PVV, as well as new VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, and BBB leader Caroline van der Plas. The often contentious negotiations even led to Omtzigt walking out and calling it quits at one point, while also facing attacks from political leaders during interviews and on social media.

Despite the rebukes and lack of trust among the political leaders, the four formed a shaky coalition government and presented their agreement in May. Instead of joining the Cabinet, Omtzigt pressed for what he called an “extra-parliamentary Cabinet” with coalition party leaders remaining as MPs. That led to Dick Schoof becoming prime minister. Schoof is not a member of any political party in the Netherlands.