Rutte insists his coalition will survive BBB
challenge in provinces
ElectionPolitics
March 16, 2023
Mark Rutte
will need to do deals with the left alliance of PvdA and GroenLinks in the
Senate. Photo: ANP/Robin van Lonkhuijsen Prime minister Mark Rutte has said the
provincial election results will not jeopardise his government’s chances of
survival, despite the strong performance of the farmers’ party BBB. ‘I think
the cabinet can remain stable in the coming years, because we have parties that
want to take responsibility,’ he told NOS as the results began to come in.
Counting was halted in dozens of municipalities and will not resume until this
afternoon as counting teams struggled to deal with the highest turnout for
provincial elections in 30 years. With around 85% of votes counted, the BBB is
set to take 15 seats in the senate, which will be elected by provincial
assemblies in May, based on the national vote share in yesterday’s elections.
However, the alliance of Labour (PvdA) and GroenLinks is also on course for 15
seats, which would allow the coalition parties, with a projected 24 seats in
the 75-member assembly, to secure a majority without the support of Caroline
van der Plas’s party. At provincial level, the BBB has been confirmed as the
largest party in five assemblies and is set to top the poll in at least five of
the remaining seven. In Drenthe and Overijssel it took more than 30% of the
vote and will have 17 seats, while no other party won more than four. The BBB’s
lead is unassailable in all provinces except Utrecht, where GroenLinks holds a
narrow lead, and Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland, where the BBB has a lead of
less than 1% over the VVD. ‘Cabinet must go’ Van der Plas said the results
showed that the Netherlands had ‘lost confidence in this government,’ but her
party was prepared to work constructively to find solutions in the provinces.
The BBB was elected on a platform of opposing the government’s plans to buy out
farmers in order to bring down nitrogen compound emissions, following a judgment
by the Council of State that it was breaching European limits designed to
protect conservation areas. Van der Plas says she will not support compulsory
buyouts, but the minister responsible for nitrogen, Christianne van der Wal,
has said there is ‘no alternative’. ‘We are ready to sit down at the table with
everyone in the provinces to see how we move forward,’ Van der Plas said. ‘The
coalition needs to recognise that a very clear signal has been sent out that
the Netherlands has lost confidence in this coalition. They have to go. ‘I
think they need to face the consequences. How can you carry on in government if
you have no support? It’s been clear for months that confidence in politics has
reached a very low point.’ Provincial governments have been given a deadline of
July 1 to come up with detailed plans for reducing nitrogen pollution that will
be incorporated into the government’s strategy. But the nitrogen law
underpinning the plan also has to pass through the senate, where the left-wing
alliance of PvdA and GroenLinks is threatening to block the bill unless it
includes tougher measures against heavy industry and the aviation sector.
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at DutchNews.nl:
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