Wilders appoints former socialist minister as new coalition scout

11 months ago 33

Dutch election winner and Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders wants socialist and former minister Ronald Plasterk to lead the coalition-building effort after the party’s previous scout resigned over fraud allegations on Monday.

On Monday, Gom van Strien resigned as coalition-building scout for the Freedom Party (PVV) over fraud allegations related to his times at the University of Utrecht, NRC first reported.

While Wilders claimed that this was not his “dream start” and that he was unaware of the allegations against van Strien, he quickly announced his decision to nominate Plasterk to the other parties on Monday afternoon, NOS reported.

Once formally appointed, Plasterk will hold talks with all parties to reach a coalition agreement, after which parliament will appoint the new prime minister.

Plasterk served as education, culture and science minister under Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende from 2007 to 2010 and as interior minister under Prime Minister Mark Rutte from 2012 to 2017.

In both cases, he represented the Labour Party (PvdA), which in the last election ran with the Green Party (Groene Links), led by former European Commissioner Frans Timmermans – which is wholly opposed to a PVV government.

However, Plasterk has increasingly adopted a more conservative stance, occasionally criticising the Labour Party in his regular columns in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Speaking the day after the election, Plasterk said it was “very healthy” that there was a political change of government but reiterated that “the political result must now be done justice” and welcomed a right-wing coalition formed by the far-right PVV, the centre-right NSC, the farmer’s party BBB and the liberal VVD – one of the only two only viable options to form a government.

“The formation is not extremely complicated and does not have to take long,” he wrote.

However, VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz has already stated that her party will not join any coalition, preferring to play the role of the opposition.

As for NSC leader Peter Omtzigt, he repeated his opposition to governing with an anti-constitutional party during the election campaign, pointing to the PVV’s anti-Islam stance and intentions to restrict religious freedom.

But no door is completely closed, and the appointment of Plasterk is seen as part of Wilders’ efforts to present a moderate stance with a willingness to make concessions to enter government.

“If we sit down at the table with a few parties, we will have a coalition agreement within a few weeks,” Wilders said, adding that “we have to solve problems for the Netherlands. My appeal is: come and sit at the table,” he said.

(Max Griera | Euractiv.com)