a party? PvdA and GroenLinks are far from it. As GroenLinksers gather in sneakers, at Jaarbeurs in Utrecht on Saturday, ideally dreaming of tomorrow’s world, PvdA members see how the most important move in their House of Representatives, on the same day on a stage full of Zeist houseplants, before voting over a complaint over the platform .

Read also: Do GroenLinks and PvdA Members Like the Left Bloc?

Jesse Claver and Lillian Blumen emphasized that we also don’t have to be one party. not yet. At the moment, it is only about the formation of one left-wing negotiating team involved in the formation. Good idea, think Klaver and Ploumen, and they’ve got the requisite approval from their members.

Something has already changed in PvdA

Jesse Claver In conversation with members of GroenLinks

This paves the way for formation with the VVD, D66 and CDA – if these parties accept the leftist offer. So far, the VVD and CDA have said that they do not want to form more than one left-wing party. With the addition of the D66, it will result in a “left-wing cloud,” said outgoing Prime Minister and VVD leader Mark Rutte.

Lightning fast cooperation

Blomin and Claver had another mission. Since the first rumors of their rapprochement a week and a half ago, various stories have been circulating. In the photo, the cooperation is already explained as a complete amalgamation of the two parties and the two factions. And not only that: a merger conducted by VDVD and CDI, parties that were waiting for no more than a left-wing party at the formation table.

Not true, Blumen and Claver swear to their members. First of all, choosing a single faction formation was their own choice, imposed by nothing or no one from the outside.

“Something has really changed at PvdA,” Klaver said in a conversation with GroenLinksers at Jaarbeurs in Utrecht. The positive sentiment among the Social Democrats under Ludwijk Asher has strengthened since Blumen took office. “it feels very good‘, he said next to her the day before in a joint interview on de Volkskrant.

“They don’t want to believe that we’re serious and that we’re serious,” Blumen said at the PvdA Council of Members on VVD and CDA. The formation fusion should show that. Member of Parliament Henk Nijboer reversed the logic of cooperation imposed by the right: “VVD and CDA want to divide us. We will not let that happen, so we will work together.”

Blumen knows in particular that within part of her party there remains suspicion and mistrust about the merger with GroenLinks. She told her supporters that it was not far away. Let’s first pose together, now and then with seventeen at the table, then we’ll see later.

This was also supposed to negate the notion of cooperation imposed by right-wing parties: not a left merger to start formation, but formation as a testing ground to see if there was leftist amalgamation in he-she. Check, explore, don’t rush anything.

mature souls

In practice, this means a continuation of the cooperation that has intensified rapidly in recent times. Since May, Klaver and Ploumen have been the inseparable duo of scouts and detectives in the Binnenhof. The deputies of the two groups speak for each other in discussions – this practical solution to the crowded room work of two groups of eight and nine seats is now offered as a sign of solidarity.

Frequently there was an announcement of the Left’s collaboration, and it was often nipped in the bud. There were also doubts on Saturday. The GroenLinks concerned noted that PvdA has often demonstrated a willingness to form a neoliberal government with the VVD, while GroenLinks has traditionally wanted to “kick out the system”. A PvdA member at Zeist was not reassured about GroenLinks’ sustainability plans: “Our employees drive a third-party gasoline car. Is this still possible for later?”

If PvdA does not participate, the champagne will be removed in the meeting rooms and ordinary people will be left empty-handed again

Lillian Blumen During the party meeting

But against all these skeptics were members who proudly said they belonged to both parties and candidates who said that before election debates with the other, they had to look with a magnifying glass to differences in party platforms. A slim majority of the PvdA’s 3,000 members — both online and in the hall — still oppose a full merger, but more than 90 percent backed the formation plan.

This reinforces the conviction among party leaders that he may be successful this time around. Previous attempts to forge a left-wing fist together, whether with the Socialist Party or not, were dismissed by Blumen on Saturday as “weak coffee cups”. Lilianne Ploumen, a GroenLinks member in the past, kept repeating during formation that she only wanted to form and rule with GroenLinks.

Claver never wanted to ensure that he would not abandon his left-wing partners. As he wanted on Saturday Go alone Don’t rule out. But at the same time, he continued to reiterate his enthusiasm “for further cooperation with the PvdA, in the formation and in Parliament”. He’s got applause for that – enough brains at GroenLinks who have already matured for full integration.

It also helps that neither leader ranks unacceptably high in the polls. Blumen was parachuted into leadership and party leadership in January due to the unexpected departure of Usher, who felt responsible for the allowance issue as Minister of Social Affairs in Ruta’s second government. Claver’s critics hinted before the election that his best days were behind him.

Both had disappointing election results, diminishing the notion that has frustrated many previous left-wing mergers: they’re better off on their own than each other. Many of the newly appointed party members are also positive about close cooperation, even if they have something to eat alongside the strong right-wing bloc in formation and parliament.

In the words of Barbara Omen, a candidate on the PvdA slate for the March House of Representatives elections, quoted by little prince By Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “Love does not look in each other’s eyes, love looks in the same direction.”

Not very sexy after all

Working together for comfort, not out of deep love. This feeling prevailed more when defending formation – and if all goes well, treasury – with VVD. GroenLinks and PvdA both backed the impeachment motion against Rutte in April, after he admitted lying about discussing CDA member Peter Umtzigt during the explorations.

The PvdA meeting promised to generate the most tension. Unlike GroenLinks, the suggestions are also officially voted on. Attention was drawn in advance to a motion that called on the party to stop any attempt to form a coalition with the VVD as long as Rota was in charge there. Had this proposal received a lot of support, it could have aroused the suspicions of the formation partners.

But things went differently. The proposal was successfully contested at the last minute, because party rules state that only members may evaluate any negotiation outcomes afterward.

Now the critical members of her supporters must be reassured with the words with which she began her speech. “You and I would like to have a cabinet without Mark Root. What can I say without the VVD. But the elector has spoken, and there simply cannot be a government without the VVD.” If the union does not participate, she said, “champagne will be opened in meeting rooms and ordinary people will be left empty-handed again.”

At GroenLinks, this voice came from Corinne Ellemeet, so far the second Klaver in the molding process. “Unfortunately we cannot implement our electoral platform 100 percent, in the coalition you have to make concessions. But we will only judge if we can make a difference on a few key issues. I put my hand on fire so we don’t compromise on that.”

The ball for continued formation is now in the hands of VVD, CDA and D66. Right-wing parties have so far seemed tepid about left-wing cooperation, which has not been enough for them. Whether Saturday 28 August will be a historic day for left-wing politics remains to be seen. The merger was not completed, and a jointly negotiated coalition agreement was not approved.

But if the joint formation team of PvdA and GroenLinks results in the formation of a single progressive party, images from the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht and Theater Figi Zeist will appear in every video montage about the achievement of left-wing inclusion.