VVD now willing to join next Cabinet
The VVD is prepared to participate in an extra-parliamentary Cabinet, party leader Dilan Yesilgöz said in a parliamentary debate about the collapsed formation talks. For months, the party has insisted that the most it would do is offer tacit support to a center-right Cabinet. “To break the impasse, I will step forward, and I ask Mr. Omtzigt to do the same,” Yesilgöz said on Wednesday, NOS reports.
The previous round of formation talks between the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB collapsed last week when Pieter Omtzigt and his NSC suddenly withdrew. He claimed a lack of information about the government finances was the reason for the withdrawal. In his final report on the negotiations, formation leader Ronald Plasterk said that a majority Cabinet of PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB seemed impossible at this stage, but he was hopeful about future cooperation between these parties. That report is up for debate in the Tweede Kamer today.
Yesilgöz said she is willing to talk about an extra-parliamentary Cabinet, but only with equal participation from all four parties involved in the previous formation phase. She called it a “step forward” to break the impasse resulting from the NSC leaving the negotiation table. Without the NSC’s cooperation, a majority center-right Cabinet seems out of reach.
An extra-parliamentary Cabinet generally is based on a “government program” with the general goals the Cabinet wants to achieve instead of a “coalition agreement,” which contains concrete plans for the government’s term. It’s more removed from parliament in that the parliamentary factions are not involved in the formation process, and there’s less pressure on MPs to support government proposals. This type of Cabinet can also contain Ministers from opposition parties.
The VVD has not been doing well among its voters since the parliamentary election in November 2023. Over half of VVD voters (53 percent) told I&O Research that they regret not voting for a different party, and appreciation for Yesilgöz herself has dropped significantly. In October, voters gave the then-new VVD leader an average score of 6.4. Now that’s a 5.1.
