Coalition: still looking for unity

Next year it would all be different, Prime Minister Dick Schoof sighed in December after a months of battle between the cabinet, coalition fractions and opposition on the budgets. In the Spring Memorandum in April, the half -yearly update of the National Budget, there would be « a normal process » in which the cabinet – and the prime minister first – would take the lead. But in the meantime, according to cabinet sources, the deadline that the cabinet set (Friday 11 April) is uncertain. The difficult political choices are piling up and coalition fractions and fellow ministers are testing the authority of Schoof with varying success.

On Friday, asylum minister Marjolein Faber (PVV) surprised Before the Council of Ministers with a frontal attack on Schoof. Faber complained that the Prime Minister had not yet wanted to put the withdrawal law of the Spreading Act on the agenda. That is the law that asylum seekers must fairly distribute over municipalities. According to Faber, she already handed in pieces weeks ago for discussion in the cabinet. « I don’t understand why the Prime Minister doesn’t just put it on, » said an irritated Faber.

With the asylum file there is a lot at stake for the PVV. In the formation, the party negotiated strict new asylum measures that should reduce the number of asylum seekers and in October the coalition still agreed that the Spreading Act would be withdrawn directly. But the withdrawal law that Faber has been talking about for months, « still has to be written, » says a person involved. This week Faber only wanted to discuss a bill in the cabinet stating « what steps will be taken in the coming period to withdraw the law ».

Even that more process-based document was not yet ready for discussion in the Ministeraad on Friday, PVV Vice Prime Minister Fleur Agema also had to admit. Agema said that documents must be ‘full -bearing’ before they enter the cabinet, and well coordinated with involved colleagues. That had not happened well now, Agema had to say about her own PVV minister. « Mrs. Faber is of ‘Doorieselen’. That shows how much drive she has, but for all of us we, as ministers, must first agree. »

The minister with whom Faber should have coordinated is Mona Keijzer, BBB Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning. When it comes to the Spreading Act, their portfolios will touch each other, because at the moment almost 17,500 status holders keep more than a quarter of the asylum beds occupied in the reception. They can’t just get out of the shelter because of the rural housing shortage. It is predicted that next year at least half of the people in the asylum shelter will be status holder. To prevent that, Faber wants status holders to be able to get out of shelter faster.

Keijzers Ministry is responsible for accommodating status holders, but also works on legislation that has to put an end to the priority that status holders still receive in many municipalities when it comes to homes. The abolition of that priority is in the way of Faber in terms of reception spots. And so the asylum minister ‘flow locations’ for status holders, a form of temporary accommodation that must be offered by municipalities. It just doesn’t get along with that, and Keijzer also wants these temporary residential units to go to local ’emergency seekers’ on the housing market.

It is a recurring problem for the Cabinet sheaf: ministers who surprise each other. A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister himself was also guilty when he suddenly signed billions of extra aid for Ukraine in a parliamentary debate, without informing part of his own coalition partners in advance. And the coalition parties find their own profile so important that it sometimes seems as if the coalition itself is supplying the opposition. For example, three of the four coalition parties (PVV, VVD and BBB) voted this week for a motion that PVV State Secretary Ingrid Coenradie called for prisoners not to be free to perform earlier, while she says she has investigated all options and that she cannot otherwise.

Completely silently passed a different proposal on Tuesday. On the initiative of the SGP, the House of Representatives placed a so-called ‘parliamentary treatment reservation’ in the plans of the European Commission to greatly increase defense spending, also with loans. Such a reservation means that the cabinet must constantly keep the Chamber informed of the negotiations in Brussels. There must also be a separate parliamentary debate about the plans, until that time, cabinet members in the Brussels negotiations are allowed to « not take irreversible steps », according to the site of the Chamber.

PVV, NSC and BBB supported this reservation, which, among others, Prime Minister Schoof and Minister of Finance Eelco Heinen will be confronted in the coming weeks. Schoof is now « under guardianship, » D66’er Jan Paternotte, and also VVD member Eric van der Burg denounced the attitude of his coalition partners in a debate. « Shovel cannot say in Brussels: Dear friends, as far as I am concerned, I agree with this plan, but I first have to go back to The Hague to hear what PVV, NSC and BBB think of it. »

They are opposition parties such as D66 and the CDA that give ministers as a sheaf and Coenradie back cover. That is « very unsatisfactory, » says CDA MP Derk Boswijk, and, according to him, has little to do with the promised healthy ‘extraparlaitary’ relationships. « It is rather cowardly politics, no one in this coalition feels more responsible for painful decisions. They are opposing, while we support their ministers out of responsibility. That is quite embarrassing. »

Lead

In the midst of all mutual distrust, the cabinet and coalition must be about the spring memorandum in the coming weeks and therefore about files that involve billions. Defense fencing must be raised sharply, there is not yet a solution for VAT increases, the municipalities are asking for more money and there are worries for the inflation and price of the groceries. The list of political problems grows every week and the situation in which Prime Minister is sheaf is not much better than with the previous budget cycle.

In the meantime, Schoof is trying to take the lead a little more. He also thinks the withdrawal of the Spreading Act is important, he said on Friday, but as Prime Minister he determines – and not Faber – when it will be on the agenda of the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks. On Friday leaked media reports about disagreement between Keijzer and Faber, he found « undesirable », he expressed the hope that all ministers will « restrain » the unity of government policy.

That must be done quickly, because the deadline for the spring memorandum is approaching rap. Whether the parties will come out? Friday, April 11 is the « dream date, » the Prime Minister said Friday. As if he already feels that delay or crisis is more likely.

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