Omtzigt addresses troubled NSC at congress after Cabinet members & MP’s resign
Pieter Omtzigt is not planning a quiet start to the week of his return: On Saturday, he will be speaking at his party's NSC congress in Nieuwegein. The members have a lot to discuss. After all, cooperation in the coalition with the PVV, VVD, and BBB is proving difficult, which is also affecting their own ranks. In recent weeks, two state secretaries and just as many party MPs have resigned because they were annoyed by the way things were being handled in the coalition and the Cabinet.
The short history of Omtzigt 's party, founded in August last year, has been a wild ride so far. In the elections in November of that year, the party won 20 seats out of nowhere. This was followed by a difficult formation process in which accusations flew back and forth between the later coalition parties. NSC was concerned whether the rule of law was safe with the radical right-wing PVV, but after agreements on this matter, it was persuaded to cooperate.
Even after that, things remained unsettled. Tensions rose during coalition negotiations on the budget. In September, the party leader announced that he would stay home for the time being because of burnout symptoms.
He was temporarily replaced by his deputy Nicolien van Vroonhoven, but she hardly had any time to settle in. There were tensions in the coalition during the discussion about the emergency asylum law, which the PVV wanted so much and for which the NSC once again had considerable constitutional objections. After several consultations into the late hours of the evening, the emergency law was taken off the table and a coalition crisis was averted.
The "polarizing forms of interaction" in the aftermath of the unrest in Amsterdam were the reason for Moroccan-Dutch State Secretary Nora Achahbar (NSC) to take a step back last week. This also led to crisis talks that lasted into the night. Shortly after, other MPs decided to resign from the party. For instance, Rosanne Hertzberger and Femke Zeedijk announced on Tuesday that they no longer felt comfortable in the coalition due to the aftermath of the unrest in Amsterdam. Omtzigt returned to The Hague a day later.
