Dutch mayors angered by national politicians stirring up unrest and division

Many mayors in the Netherlands have been using their New Year's speeches to address divisive rhetoric employed by politicians working at the national level in The Hague. National politicians are intentional stirring up unrest in society with their statements, the mayors complained. "I admit, sometimes you feel discouraged," said Erik Boog, the mayor of Diemen.

"The wars in the world, Ukraine, the Middle East, the victory of Trump in America and of extreme right parties in Europe, the visible consequences of climate change. The chaos that political The Hague makes of it, the increase in anti-Semitic and racist violence, the far-reaching polarization," the D66 party member continued. "And if they make a mess of things in the world, and in The Hague, then we must set a good example at a local level. And we are already doing that quite well in Diemen."

Almere Mayor Hein van der Loo said he is sometimes ashamed of how "of the way national politicians and committee members" are constantly quarrelling. Van der Loo, who is not a member of a political party, is the chair of the national Safety Council. The organization is made up of mayors representing the 25 emergency services regions in the Netherlands.

Servaas Stoop, mayor of the Gelderland municipality of West Betuwe, was also critical in his speech. "I feel that politics in The Hague is not really contributing to creating more peace. On the contrary. Some people are actually stirring up the unrest."

In her speech, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema called her city "the national outlet for national and international discontent," referring to the many protests and demonstrations that took place in the capital last year. In her speech, she also addressed the war between Israel and Hamas, which "became part of the fibers of our city." Looking back, she said, "There was and is violence in our streets, unacceptable and horrific for the victims and an attack on our city that we all love so much."

She took a swipe at the current Cabinet, where the far-right PVV is the largest party in the governing coalition. "You know that I never get involved in political judgements, and I won't do that now either. But I sometimes catch myself feeling a slight form of nostalgia for the relative emotional stability of yet another caretaker Rutte Cabinet." Halsema has regularly been the target of fierce criticism from PVV leader Geert Wilders, and especially in 2024. Recently, he lambasted her for her handling of the unrest surrounding the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv football match in November.

Halsema's remark was a reference to the full year that each of Rutte's third and fourth Cabinets spent in a caretaker capacity, the latter having left office when Prime Minister Dick Schoof's current Cabinet took office in July. Rutte's first Cabinet was made up of a coalition with minority support propped up by Wilders and the PVV, which quickly fell apart when the PVV pulled its support in a row over austerity measures to reduce the projected 2013 budget deficit of 4.5 percent.

"Our boundaries of decency are being stretched more and more. Society is hardening," remarked Beek Mayor Christine van Basten-Boddin. Her sentiments were echoed by Mayor Marjon de Hoon-Veelenturf of Baarle-Nassau, and Smallingerland Mayor Fred Veenstra, who reflected on the importance of getting out of one's own bubble and not becoming entrenched in an echo chamber.

Mayor Maarten Offinga of Hardenberg, Overijssel, said he is shocked "by the increasingly extreme statements that are being made about other people. I find the value judgments that are whizzing past our ears alarming. Even politics in The Hague is participating in it."

The mayor of the Limburg municipality of Peel en Maas also criticized the discourse in national debates, for example about the reception of asylum seekers and refugees. "Muscle flexing is the dominant language. Something that politicians in The Hague likes to use anyway. Trying to outdo each other with one-liners. Opening the attack by immediately taking a position, instead of first asking a question," said Mayor Bob Vostermans.