Left-wing parties demand information on how Cabinet formation process is going

A group of left-wing and left-center political parties said they remain frustrated with Cabinet formation leader Ronald Plasterk, saying he “did not respond to the specific questions” they posed. They said on Thursday they want to explicitly know whether the parties which could form a new coalition government have already reached an agreement about safeguarding the rule of law.

GroenLinks-PvdA, PvdD and Volt still have questions despite a letter Plasterk sent to address their initial inquiry. Earlier this week, Frans Timmermans (GroenLinks-PvdA) and Esther Ouwehand (PvdD) requested text and explanation from Plasterk via the chair of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament. Plasterk responded with a note in which he indicated that the parties cannot yet draw any conclusions about “the working method or the flow of the information.”

But the left-wing parties are not satisfied with that. We are being ignored, Timmermans said on NPO Radio 1. Plasterk will not provide the Tweede Kamer with more information about the talks between PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB until early February. The PVV is currently trying to form a Cabinet with the NSC and BBB, and to win a commitment from the VVD to support a minority Cabinet from Parliament.

The left-wing parties want to know for certain whether Plasterk “is executing his assignment to the letter” and that themes such as immigration, climate change and purchasing power will only be discussed once “there is agreement on a common baseline for guaranteeing the Constitution, fundamental rights and the democratic constitutional state.”

Reports have appeared in the media that these other topics are already being discussed, particularly as economic experts including Dutch central bank leader Klaas Knot met with the potential coalition parties. The Tweede Kamer’s directive when Plasterk was appointed stated that he may only discuss substantive policy issues “if, in the opinion” of the negotiating parties, there is agreement on the baseline for guaranteeing the rule of law.

However, the assignment does not state that Plasterk is required to inform the Tweede Kamer in the meantime. That said, the likely opposition parties now want to know whether that agreement has been reached.

They stress that they also expressed concerns in the parliamentary debate on the exploration that “parties with worries about this subject are slowly falling into a trap, whereby guaranteeing the democratic constitutional state becomes part of a broad negotiation on various policy areas.” They specifically mention the commitment of NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt that he wanted to keep the topics explicitly separate.