Omtzigt: Coalition with GroenLinks-PvdA difficult "on certain issues"

Pieter Omtzigt (NSC) believes that a Cabinet with GroenLinks-PvdA will be difficult "on certain issues" if he thinks "along the lines that NSC wants to achieve," He said in an election interview in De Telegraaf on Saturday.

The issues Omtzigt is referring to are migration, nitrogen, and livelihoods. "The big tax increases from GroenLinks-PvdA that I've seen in their bill, for example. And the minimum wage they want to raise is not that low here compared to our neighboring countries," he argues.

Nevertheless, Omtzigt says that there are no real breaking points for a possible coalition with Frans Timmermans' party. "But it is very important to get a grip on migration. The moment that doesn't happen, we firmly believe we will struggle to maintain our public services," the NSC party leader told the newspaper.

When asked what his party will be held accountable for in the near future, the NSC leader said "By pushing through a reform agenda that improves living conditions a little; and that means making progress on migration, the cost of living and solving the housing crisis."

In the polls for the parliamentary elections on November 22, the NSC and GroenLinks-PvdA have been in the top three for weeks, together with the VVD. However, Omtzigt told De Telegraaf that he does not yet have a preference for a coalition "in one direction or the other". He has already said several times that he finds the idea of a minority government interesting.

On Friday, Pieter Omtzigt announced that he does not want to become Prime Minister if his NSC achieves the massive win projected in the polls. He plans to stay in the Tweede Kamer as NSC leader. “I have a firm preference to remain in the Tweede Kamer, and I have had that preference for a long time,” he said on the TV program Op1.