The minority cabinet must choose: who will it collaborate with? That is the message from JA21 party leader Joost Eerdmans during a very hot conference with about three hundred men and a selection of women in the Maurits barracks in Ede this Saturday. “Another eighty days until Budget Day and the cabinet is still moving to the rhythm of the Snollebollekes: from left to right and back again,” says the group leader.
In the financial field, political cooperation should not be both-and, but either-or, Eerdmans wants to convey. The minority cabinet must get support from the opposition for the budget before the summer. For the time being, the government is postponing the choice of who it wants to collaborate with. “Is the cabinet going to the left with Pro or the right with us? Both are not possible,” says Eerdmans. “And otherwise the VVD will just step into the lifeboat of (Pro leader) Jesse Klaver.”
The audience hears Eerdmans say nothing at all from the stage about the big topic that is currently in the news, nitrogen. But at the conference, both members and party prominents say that these plans will be the first biggest test for cooperation between the minority cabinet and the left and right.
Nitrogen plans
On Friday, for the first time in years, the government presented a comprehensive plan to remove the Netherlands from the ‘nitrogen lock’ and allow nature to recover. The government needs Pro and JA21 to get the plans through the House of Representatives with broad support and to be able to count on support in the country.
All farmers must meet emission standards by 2035 at the latest. Companies located near vulnerable nature in particular must significantly reduce their emissions, including by becoming more sustainable, downsizing, moving or voluntarily stopping. The cabinet is emphatically no longer opting for forced buyout, which Rutte-IV threatened and which JA21 was strongly against.
There are certain similarities between the cabinet’s nitrogen plan and the JA21 election programme. But Eerdmans and the spokesperson for nitrogen in the House of Representatives, Maarten Goud Sword, say they do not want to provide a response until after the weekend. Pro also did not want to respond – the party, like JA21, is saving that for the parliamentary debate next Wednesday.
However, the JA21 faction would be willing to make a compromise with Pro on nitrogen, sources around the party say. He would even be willing to suffer some pain for that.
So why is JA21’s tone so different when it comes to finances?
The urgency of the new nitrogen approach is widely felt at JA21. If the plans are successful and nature can recover, it will become easier to grant permits again: for example, to build houses or expand the electricity network. Companies and farmers would also be encouraged to become more sustainable.
This means that both Pro and JA21 have an interest in a solution. The red-green Pro believes it is important that nitrogen emissions are limited and that the state of nature improves. JA21 especially hopes that the economy will receive a boost if more permits are issued for construction and companies.
JA21 has the feeling that the government prefers to work with them in financial matters, but in practice it still ends up with Pro
This is different with the theme of finance, says JA21 member Joop van Nierop. According to him, it is “obvious” that collaborating with Pro in that area is more difficult because of the ideological differences. “Pro has a different program, in which much more money goes to social security. JA21 actually sees more room for business,” he says.
For example, Pro wants the proposed cuts in social security and increased taxes on labor to be exchanged for more taxes on wealth and profits. JA21 actually wants a general reduction in tax burdens. “Let me be crystal clear: JA21 will not agree to the financial framework if tax cuts are not part of it,” Eerdmans said on Saturday.
“I think that agreements about nitrogen are easier than about finances,” says JA21 member Robert Rietveld. “You have to look for the similarities. From there you have to continue. And yes, sometimes you have to swallow things.”
Senate
JA21 has the feeling that the government prefers to collaborate with them in financial matters, but in practice it still ends up with Pro – even though the latter party wants to tinker much more with the cabinet’s budget. But Pro is the largest faction in the Senate with fourteen seats, making it easier for the cabinet to obtain a majority in the Senate. JA21 is much less strongly represented there with two seats.
A new Senate will be elected early next year and Pro is in good shape according to the polls.
According to insiders at JA21, the composition of the Senate will determine the course that the cabinet will choose from next spring.
“We all know what the state of affairs is in the Senate in this setting, but also that Pro will have quite a significant share in the Senate after March,” says JA21 MP Ingrid Coenradie. “So it is very logical that people are now looking at how things can be done.”
