FRIDAY, 5
JULY 2024 - 08:45
Prime
Minister Schoof, PVV ministers survive no confidence votes during “circus”
debate
“It is a circus, and it is not a serious Cabinet,”
GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans said during the debate. Schoof’s
authority has been undermined, according to the opposition parties.
Prime
Minister Dick Schoof and his Cabinet survived their first “circus” of a
parliamentary debate. Motions of no confidence filed against Schoof by DENK and
PvdD and against PVV Ministers Reinette Klever and Marjolein Faber by
GroenLinks-PvdA, D66, SP, and PvdD received no majority support.
The debate
made clear that the non-partisan Schoof was very much standing alone. He
received fierce criticism from opposition parties, who wanted him to speak out
clearly against past statements by PVV Ministers Klever, Faber, and Fleur Agema
about the racist repopulation conspiracy theory for the former two and against
headscarves for the latter two. He also got attacked by Geert Wilders. The
leader of the PVV, the largest coalition party, wanted Schoof to be angrier
about the racism accusations against PVV Ministers.
But the
biggest blow came from his own Cabinet. Some time after Schoof assured GL-PvdA
MP Esmah Lahlah that it didn’t matter to him that she wore a headscarf - D66
leader Rob Jetten had confronted him about a past social media post by Minister
Faber calling the MP a PvdA-headscarf - Minister Agema (Public Health) posted
an old statement by Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema in which she spoke out
against headscarves. Jetten demanded to know what the Cabinet actually stood
for, leaving Schoof off balance. The debate had to be interrupted while Schoof
discussed the matter with his Cabinet - a very exceptional move, according to
NOS. It indicates that the Prime Minister also doesn’t know what vision his
Cabinet has.
“It is a
circus, and it is not a serious Cabinet,” GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans
Timmermans said during the debate. Schoof’s authority has been undermined,
according to the opposition parties.
The Prime
Minister said his Ministers won’t make social media posts during parliamentary
debates again. More ground rules may be discussed during the Council of
Ministers on Friday. Then, the Cabinet has the summer break to recover and
prepare for their next round in parliament. “I think it took some getting used
to, for the Tweede Kamer and for me,” Schoof calmly told the media after the
debate.
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