The campaign for the provincial council elections has now really begun, it is clear that the parties are diametrically opposed to each other. That is the conclusion of political journalist Leendert Beekman who yesterday covered the televised debate ‘Left or Right’ where VVD politicians Mark Rutte and Edith Schippers debated with Jesse Klaver of GroenLinks and Kuiken of PvdA. “It started brilliantly.”
Rutte spoke fiercely about climate activists on the A12, Kuiken in turn attacked the prime minister on Groningen and the surcharge affair, Klaver accused the VVD of not taking responsibility, Rutte rubbed the left with the abolition of the deduction of interest on mortgages to want the common man to take. “The mood was immediately good,” Beekman says.
Small news
It is true that the debate also concerned housing, migration and the climate, but «there was little new. What has become clearly visible is that the parties are diametrically opposed to each other.” Remarkable, according to Beekman, was that Edith Schippers, who is expected to take over from Rutte, was given very little space by Rutte. “One thing was clear: there is only one leader of the VVD and that is Mark Rutte.”
Autumn Rutte IV?
What is less clear then is the continued existence of the Rutte IV cabinet. Prior to the debate, both Rutte and Hoekstra had already made statements about his future, and according to Beekman, the bottom line may be that a cabinet crisis cannot be ruled out. ‘The cabinet can fall, for example on migration, but of course also on nitrogen.’ CDA MP Derk Boswijk spoke on Friday about the cabinet during the agriculture deal and said he feared the cabinet would fall.
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Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
