Coalition mediator Sybrand Buma rules out Cabinet with VVD and GroenLinks-PvdA

Sybrand Buma, the informateur tasked with guiding the formation talks, has said that a Cabinet including both the VVD and GroenLinks-PvdA has “fallen off the table.” He made the statement following coalition talks with D66 party leader Rob Jetten and CDA leader Henri Bontenbal on Friday. The VVD’s refusal to work with GroenLinks-PvdA “is in place and will stay,” Buma noted, adding that the centrist Cabinet favored by D66 had effectively already been ruled out before his assignment began.

He described the VVD’s blockade as “one of the burdens on the process from the start.” As a result, he is exploring “other options,” but is first working with Jetten and Bontenbal on a policy document that other parties should be able to support.

A spokesperson walked back his remarks a while later stating that Buma was referring to the VVD’s blockade against such a collaboration, and that he currently sees “no reason to assume that has changed.”

Buma declined to say whether the number of viable options is shrinking, insisting that the same choices have been available “from the start.” He reiterated that he intends to move “step by step,” and is therefore not committing to a minority Cabinet or a collaboration with JA21. “I’m still at the stage where I’m trying to keep every option on the table,” he said.

A D66 spokesperson said Puma’s comments were meant to describe “the current situation.” He declined to say whether the party still sees a coalition with both the VVD and GroenLinks-PvdA as realistic. “We’ll see,” he said, stressing that D66 and CDA are continuing to work on a “positive agenda” and will explore next week which other parties are willing to join.

D66 and the CDA have set December 9 as the deadline for a draft document that will form the basis for talks with other parties. “I hope that by then I’ll have a clearer picture of which parties are willing to participate," Buma said on Friday.

Buma, who is also the Mayor of Leeuwarden, made it clear on Friday that he will not continue as informateur after this phase of the formation is over. "This truly is my final report. I’ve been away from Leeuwarden for three weeks, and after this I’m heading straight back.”