Quality of municipal councils declining, party leaders say in election debate

Local party leaders are seeing the quality of the municipal council decline. This became clear during a debate with six party leaders in Nieuwspoort in the run-up to the municipal elections on March 18. “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys,” said Richard de Mos of Hart voor Den Haag, a local party in the Hague.

Lesley van Hilten of the Almere VVD agrees that the quality of the council has declined, with “an awful lot of changes, new members, additional tasks, and complex dossiers.” Without retaining knowledge, maintaining quality becomes difficult, she said.

Venita Dada-Anthonij of D66 Utrecht added that the atmosphere in which the council operates is becoming “increasingly difficult,” partly due to threats.

De Mos suggested making council membership a full-time job in large cities with over 100,000 inhabitants. Jeroen Berends of CDA Doetinchem argued that smaller municipalities should also be considered, as the problems are just as significant there. Sofyan Mbarki of PvdA Amsterdam is against the idea. He believes local politics shouldn't imitate national politics.

In the debate, Mbarki, De Mos, Dada-Anthonij, and Ronald Buijt of Leefbaar Rotterdam agreed that housing is the Netherlands’ most important issue, but they disagreed on solutions.

Dada-Anthonij called creativity essential to solving the housing shortage.

De Mos and Buijt see benefits of building in the higher, more expensive segments. “Strong shoulders are needed to achieve balance,” said Buijt, stressing that this balance is lacking in Rotterdam. According to De Mos, social housing weakens a neighbourhood.

Mbarki responded: “I would never say that social housing weakens a neighborhood.” He sees a significant shortage of affordable housing in Amsterdam.