Don't let the Cabinet formation drag on for months, prominent CDA, GL-PvdA members plead
Hugo de Jonge of the CDA and Jesse Klaver of GroenLinks-PvdA have both appealed to the political parties not to let another Cabinet formation process drag on for months. “We’ve seen stagnation on too many fronts in recent years. We need a Cabinet that rolls up its sleeves and tackles the issues facing the Netherlands very quickly,” De Jonge said.
De Jonge hopes to see a new Cabinet sworn in by January, Klaver even by Christmas. Quite optimistic, given that the formation process for the current Schoof I Cabinet took over six months. The formation of the Rutte IV Cabinet before that took nine months.
“I hope that a Cabinet will be formed as early as possible in the new year, perhaps as early as January. I see no reason why that shouldn’t be possible,” Hugo de Jonge, King’s Commissioner in Zeeland and a CDA Minister in the Rutte III and Rutte IV Cabinets, told ANP. “In other European countries, it’s possible to form a Cabinet within one or two months.”
“In the Netherlands, we’ve become accustomed to the idea that it’s perfectly logical for a formation to take nine months. But politicians who know what they want and also know that they're forced to cooperate in a certain way should be able to form a Cabinet much faster,” De Jonge said.
Jesse Klaver, the number two on GroenLinks-PvdA’s list of candidates, agrees that the formation must go faster and a Cabinet must be installed at least before the municipal elections in March next year. “We’ve always said we want new Ministers in place before Christmas,” Klaver told Goedemorgen Nederland. “The Netherlands is in danger of becoming completely ungovernable. Parties with a strong result must take responsibility for steering the country onto a different course.”
Whether a quick formation is on the cards remains to be seen. The final polls before election day were tight. The PVV was still the biggest party, but GroenLinks-PvdA and D66 were close on its heels. The CDA and VVD were not far behind and also had a chance to become the biggest party in the election. A lot will depend on the turnout and the around 39 percent of voters who were still undecided when the final polls were done.
It seems unlikely that the PVV will be in the next Cabinet, barring an astonishing win this election. GroenLinks-PvdA, CDA, and VVD have stated outright that they won’t work with Wilders, and it would take a whole lot of smaller parties to make up a majority in parliament.
A GL-PvdA, D66, and CDA coalition seems a likely choice, but the CDA may be uncomfortable with that as the most right-wing party in that group. And if the three don’t get enough for a majority, they’ll need a fourth party or maybe even a fifth party. The VVD might contribute the most seats, but the VVD’s Dilan Yesilgoz doesn’t want to work with GL-PvdA’s Frans Timmermans, and Timmermans will demand that the VVD take a step to the left.
Stepping into a coalition is also a risk for a party, as coalition parties tend to lose support while in office. In the Schoof I Cabinet, every party is polling significantly lower than their current seats in parliament. The NSC might even lose all 20 of its current seats.
