After thirteen years, Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s reign is coming to an end and an era is coming to an end. Professor Arnoud Boot thinks so. “He’s been coming for two years,” he says.
Boot calls it admirable that Rutte was able to govern the country and keep parties together for a long time, but at the same time he is a realist. “Ultimately, innovation is needed,” she says. ‘There are big challenges ahead.’
“Great Challenges Ahead”
According to Boot, Rutte was not considered a “guide”. Instead, she “kept things together,” she says. Unlike Rutte’s predecessor, Jan-Peter Balkenende, who led the Netherlands through the financial crisis. “Actually, that was the beginning of rediscovering what the role of government in society should be,” says Boot. “And what should be the responsibility of the population. Balkenende didn’t come out well, but he gave Rutte the opportunity to come to power ».
Same mistake
Boot points out that Rutte has followed the same path, but because the world has changed so much, he thinks it’s hard to rate Rutte in the same way. ‘We don’t know how things would have gone with other furniture, and if you look at the Balkenende furniture, it was also extremely difficult to find direction in that constellation. And we also saw it with Rutte.’
According to Boot, it is evident that the fragmentation of Dutch politics played a large part in this. “Certainly in his last cabinet, where all the major issues led to diametrically opposed coalition parties,” he says. And for some time he has managed to find compromises every time. But this is not enough in times of great change.’
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.
