A Cabinet Crisis Averted?

The events in Amsterdam last week have led to a stormy debate in the Dutch parliament and an apparently equally stormy cabinet meeting. As a result, the deputy finance minister, Nora Achahbar, handed in her resignation yesterday. She wrote in her resignation letter that:

The polarising interactions of the past weeks made such an impact on me that I am no longer able to effectively carry out my duties as deputy minister.

There was speculation that other members of her party in the coalition cabinet might follow suit. It resulted in a five-hour crisis meeting of Dick Schoof, the premier, and his coalition partners. The outcome was that his Cabinet will continue, but I note that he said that the junior minister’s resignation:

“came unexpectedly and impacted me and other cabinet members”

Adding:

“there has never been any racism in my government or in the coalition parties”.

Pull the other one – it’s got bells on. You’ve got people such as Faber, Klever and Keijzer in your government who spout the same rhetoric as Wilders…

There’s an opinion piece in today’s Volkskrant where the writer says that they are unlucky to have a PM who gives the impression of bowing to Wilders before getting his marching orders for the day… More than a grain of truth in that, methinks.

Addendum 19 November 2024:

And now, two more party members of the NSC (one of the four parties in the coalition government) have resigned. Rosanne Hertzberger and Femke Zeedijk have had enough. Hertzberger said:

“Completely inappropriate statements are being made, both in front of and behind the scenes of this government. Basic standards of decency, civility, manners – how you speak about colleagues, how you speak about the Dutch – are being violated.”

The coarsening of politics gathers apace, and it seems to be worldwide, with pied piper-in-chief Trump leading the pack. Wilders is not far behind and now it seems as though Yesilgöz and van der Plas are following the piper as well.