In a joint interview in De Telegraaf, the Prime Minister, VVD Rutte and VVD leader Edith Schippers criticized the Labor Party and Groene Links, who will soon form a single group in the Senate. In the run-up to the county council elections on March 15, the VVD premier said PvdA and GroenLinks would “grab their pockets with at least nine tax increases”.

Members of the county council will elect new senators at the end of May. “If GroenLinks and PvdA become the largest parties, they will develop a huge amount of self-confidence, and I think VVD should stop this movement now,” says Root. “In the Netherlands we must not go back to the days of Job den Jol,” he said, referring to the prime minister from the PvdA party who led a left-wing government in the 1970s.

The leader of the VVD party expects VVDA and Grun Links to win the elections to give the two parties “an impetus on their way to the parliamentary elections.” According to the prime minister, a pro-coalition majority leads to a calmer policy. By the way, he also says that he cannot deal with JA21, because this party “only reads its electoral platform” in the negotiations.

“We’ve come out of three major crises: recession, then corona and now there’s war on the continent. I think people also want us to keep things stable,” says Rutte. He did not come up with new plans to tackle other problems in the country.

says VVD leader of the Senate Schippers in a newspaper That more attention should be paid to the earning capacity of the Netherlands. “Sometimes I get blown away by discussion topics, which are often about redistribution.” When asked if she wanted to succeed Root in the long term, she reiterated that there was currently no vacancy and that the party was on the verge of possible succession.

The statements of each of the VVD members are remarkable, because the current alliance between VVD, D66, CDA and ChristenUnie cannot count on a majority in the Senate and regularly seeks support from, for example, GroenLinks and PvdA.