NSC will explain skepticism about right-wing Cabinet to its members

The NSC party leadership will update its members in two meetings about the progress of the Cabinet formation. Party chairman Bert van Boggelen confirmed this after an article in De Telegraaf. However, he emphasized that the members had nothing to vote for. According to the statutes, only the lower house parliamentary group decides on possible Cabinet participation.

The chairman of the NSC, Pieter Omtzigt, decided last week to break off coalition negotiations with the PVV, VVD and BBB. This decision was "not taken lightly", the party wrote in a newsletter to its members. "At the same time, we are convinced that a majority government with PVV, VVD, and BBB would not have led to fruitful cooperation."

The fact that additional requested figures about government finances were only presented at the formation table on "the last day of the information interviews" was "the straw that broke the already full camel's back for us". In addition to "sound public finances", NSC has also consistently emphasized "respect for the constitution and fundamental rights" and "governing with integrity".

Omtzigt stated shortly after leaving the negotiation talks that "NSC is very shocked after reading the letters today. NSC notes that, as of today, we have different financial expectations for the coming years," he wrote. "Under no circumstances does NSC want to make promises to Dutch people, which it knows in advance are empty promises that cannot be kept during the coming Cabinet period. You cannot build social security with castles in the sky,” he said.

Omtzigt's departure from the negotiating table has caused a lot of bad blood among the other negotiating parties. Ronald Plasterk, who led talks between the parties, also complained about the NSC chairman's lack of respect for "the informateur institute", who allegedly broke off the talks with just a text message.

Omtzigt and his deputy Eddy van Hijum explained their decisions to date at two general meetings on February 16 and 22 in Zwolle and Breukelen respectively. "We don't want to communicate with the members via the media, we really want to talk to each other," said Van Boggelen.