Security, economy must remain priorities despite Cabinet's fall, Schoof says
Caretaker Prime Minsiter Dick Schoof wants to keep working on security, recovery operations, trade tariffs, and the national budget, he said at the start of the parliamentary debate on the fall of his Cabinet. Today, the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, will decide which themes the caretaker Cabinet can continue to work on and which are “controversial” and must be left to the next government.
“Now more than ever, decisiveness is required,” Schoof said in his statement to parliament one day after PVV leader Geert Wilders pulled the plug on his Cabinet, NOS reported. “The last thing we need now is a postponement, and yet this will now be unavoidable on some subjects.”
He asked the parliamentarians to leave the controversial label off of at least four subjects: national and international security, trade tariffs, the recovery operations of the Groningen earthquakes and the benefits scandal, and the national budget.
Heading into the debate, several parliamentarians seemed determined to ensure that the country doesn’t come to a standstill while new elections are held and a new Cabinet is formed.
VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz said she hoped that the debate wouldn’t get stuck on only the fall of the Schoof I Cabinet, of which her party was a member, but also look ahead. “In the meantime, we cannot stand still: asylum laws must be passed, the NATO summit is coming up. I hope to look ahead with part of the Kamer and ensure that we really deliver,” she told NOS, heading into the Tweede Kamer.
D66 leader Rob Jetten is prepared to let the government keep working on ensuring security, he told the broadcaster. “I think we must work together to ensure that defense expenditure is increased,” he said, adding: “I also see a divided parliament, so things will not become easier.
ChristenUnie leader Mirjam Bikker said that her party would support the caretaker Cabinet continuing to work on more housing construction and expanding the power grid. “Let’s roll up our sleeves for the good,” she said.
