The largest university party in Almere, the VVD, is leaving the coalition. The group’s leader, Leslie Van Helten, made the announcement during a council meeting Thursday evening. There is an irreconcilable difference of opinion between the Liberals and the other coalition parties.

The VVD wants to open the 2022 council agreement to conclude new agreements on the city’s finances. In addition, the burden on the party leader should not be increased.

Financially difficult
The VVD therefore needs to reduce municipal spending. The other five council parties, D66, SP, Party for the Animals, Levbar Almer and CDA, will not agree to this. The VVD faction therefore concludes that it is not useful to continue discussions with the other coalition parties.

The city is facing financial difficulty. Almere ended 2023 with a deficit of 43 million euros. The municipality’s proceeds turned into smoke, while the coalition agreement stipulated the creation of a reserve of 60 million euros.

This is how faction leader Leslie van Helten announced the departure of the VVD:

The rest want to continue
The five remaining coalition parties have reacted with bewilderment to the VVD’s decision, says D66 faction leader Micky Smulders. It indicates that the rest of the coalition members want to continue. An independent supervisor of the process will then hold discussions with all parties in the Council. The coalition hopes to nominate Musharraf next week.

There was no discussion of the situation Thursday evening. Earlier in the evening, two council members fell ill, meaning they were unable to participate in the discussion. Thus VVD’s departure will be discussed further next week.

He left the Christian Union earlier
The VVD is now the second party to leave the coalition prematurely. The Christian Union left the coalition a month and a half ago, after the resignation of its advisor, Roylee Bush. She received no support for her plan to cut youth care. Since then, the coalition has fallen one seat short of a majority in the council.

VVD council member Julius Lindenbergh is also leaving the council. He will remain at work for another month to complete his duties.