After Wednesday’s election win, the BBB is busy appointing scouts in the various provinces. In South Holland, VVD star Fred Teeven will investigate the possibilities of forming a coalition.
In Brabant that is Sacha Ausems, the non-party mayor of Waalwijk. In North Holland, Ankie Broekers-Knol (VVD, former State Secretary and President of the Senate) has been appointed to explore.
In Groningen, PvdA mayor Ard van der Tuuk of Westerkwartier goes to work. In Friesland that will be SGP Member of Parliament Chris Stoffer. Astrid Nienhuis has been a scout in Drenthe since this afternoon; she is the VVD mayor of Heemstede and a former public prosecutor.
In the province of Utrecht, the BBB asked Danny de Vries to do exploratory work. CDA member De Vries is mayor of Oudewater. And in Zeeland Gerard Rabelink goes to work as a scout. “I will first have a conversation with the king’s commissioner. And I will delve into the election programs, but I will mainly listen,” says Rabelink, former mayor of Schouwen-Duiveland, at Omroep Zeeland. Rabeling is not affiliated with any political party.
The BBB became the largest party in all twelve provinces in the Provincial Council elections on Wednesday. Although this is not mandatory, the largest party always takes the initiative to arrive at an effective coalition.
That will not be an easy task in most provinces. In North Brabant, for example, BBB member John Frenken said earlier that the current nitrogen policy in the province should be reviewed. Farmers in Brabant must now have adjusted their stables by 1 July 2024 at the latest, but as far as Frenken is concerned, that deadline will be postponed. He doesn’t want to negotiate about that.
“No, not really,” said Frenken at Omroep Brabant. “We have already said in previous interviews that if we were in the States, there would have been a motion for a long time that that deadline should be dropped. That deadline is to put the knife to people’s throats, which is completely unnecessary. Based on voluntarily and above all with the cooperation of everyone we will move forward.”
Wise governance
The Brabant scout Sacha Ausems still wants to get to work. “Connection is an important theme for me, too many people feel unheard,” she says. “I made the transition to public administration from that involvement. Wise administration starts with listening and wanting to understand well. That is why I am particularly motivated to have these conversations.”
The North Holland scout Ankie Broekers-Knol emphasizes that it is “extremely important to do the work neutrally”. She compares that to her presidency of the Senate. Broekers-Knol says she was approached some time ago with the question whether she wanted to be an informant if the BBB became the largest.
Divide city and countryside
The choice for Danny de Vries in the province of Utrecht is very deliberate, says the BBB. De Vries was once a journalist, previously lived in Amsterdam and Enschede is now mayor of the rural municipality of Oudewater. “As a result, the BBB hopes that it can close the gap between city and countryside,” said BBB party leader Anton Verleun at RTV Utrecht.
“We got 13.2 percent of the vote here. Not 33 percent, not 50 percent. We have to be modest and want to build bridges.” Verleun says he does not exclude parties from the coalition formation, but does think that a coalition with the number two in Utrecht, GroenLinks, is not obvious.
Reckless actions
It is striking that Ard van der Tuuk will conduct talks about a coalition in Groningen. As mayor, he was confronted with harsh actions by farmers last summer when they dumped waste on a highway in his municipality. “I think they are rash actions,” he said at RTV Noord.
On the one hand, he showed understanding for farmers’ resistance to the cabinet’s nitrogen plans. But he condemned the form of action. “You shouldn’t think about a family going on holiday with the kids early this morning and banging on it. This is really not possible.”
Most scouts will have the first talks on Monday. A scout will soon be appointed in the province of Limburg, says BBB party leader Annetje Schoolmeesters at 1Limburg. In the province of Flevoland, the name of the scout will be announced on Monday evening, says BBB party leader Anja Keuter at Omroep Flevoland. An scout will probably also start work in Overijssel at the beginning of next week.
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