January 9, 2024 at 5:42 am
The training process will resume today at the De Zwaluwenberg estate in Hilversum. After a two-week holiday, the leaders of the PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB parties and their fellow negotiators will continue their talks until Thursday.
Geert Wilders (PVV), Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD), Pieter Omtzigt (NSC) and Caroline van der Plas (BBB) will discuss each other’s concerns regarding ensuring the rule of law in De Zwaluuwenberg. They can also discuss other substantive issues, such as migration and poverty reduction.
Concerns about the rule of law are mainly due to the positions of the PVV, which are not always consistent with the Constitution. Wilders hoped to allay those concerns by withdrawing three controversial initiative bills Monday that had been sitting on the shelf for years.
In addition to the heavy and substantial criticism leveled at these plans, there was still no majority in favor of them in the House of Representatives. For Wilders, it is much more important that the number of immigrants is significantly reduced, he has regularly stated.
Photo: ANP
Former party leaders Wopke Hoekstra (CDA), Sigrid Kaag (D66) and Mark Rutte (VVD) during training in 2021. Photo: ANP.
Have a chat in the evening with a glass of wine or beer
Closed-door discussions without intermediate meetings with the press should eliminate sore points between the parties. Wilders said this at the end of November, when the four parties were still in the exploratory phase.
“Sitting around a table without taboos and without knowing where you’re going,” Wilders said of the benefits of this type of negotiation. The 2010 negotiations for the first cabinet of then VVD leader Mark Rutte also took place this way.
Wilders: “We locked ourselves in the office of Maxime Verhagen (then leader of the CDA, ed.) for a week, without the presence of the press. Then something happened.” The PVV eventually became a tolerable cabinet partner with the VVD and CDA.
The Zwaluuwenberg was also used during the 2007, 2017 and 2021 trainings. In the last time, the then whistleblower Johan Remkes spoke of “a relaxed environment” in which one can spend time “a little longer” Together.
You can spend the night on the estate, and this has happened the last few times. According to Rutte “it is useful to chat in the evening over a glass of wine or beer”, he said two years ago. “That makes a difference, of course. You don’t have that in The Hague.” Until now, debates have always taken place in a room of the House of Representatives.
2024-01-09 04:42:09
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