Tension in the CDA is running high due to negotiations with Forum for Democracy. Part of the party strongly protests against the possible formation of a Brabant provincial government with FvD. This weekend the Brabant party departments will be called to find out whether the CDA can continue on the chosen path. That is what initiates say in the party.
Yesterday, VVD, FvD and the CDA in Brabant agreed that they will be sitting again next week, because there is sufficient mutual trust so far. But this weekend the CDA is conducting an informal survey among the departments to see whether this route receives sufficient support.
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Worth trying
Mark Janssen, former campaign leader for the provincial elections and group leader in Mill and Sint Hubert, is one of the CDA members who is open to discussions with FvD. He thinks that a coalition with Forum might work out better for the farmers’ supporters. Because of less strict nitrogen rules, for example.
He believes that local politicians should not be distracted by issues such as controversial tweets from FvD leader Thierry Baudet. “We should not pay too much attention to that. Forming a board is difficult enough. There is now an impasse,” says Janssen about the negotiations that started after the fall of the previous coalition.
Harm de Kleijne, CDA councilor in Sint Anthonis, agrees. “What someone says in 180 characters is less important than 180 farmers can help.” Local CDA politicians who joined Janssen this week to discuss the issue are therefore – despite their reservations – open to discussions. Worth the try, is the thought with them.
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It is disappointing to me that the crown princes are waiting and say: ‘That is up to Brabant’.
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But the crack in the CDA in Brabant becomes clear when we walk through his neighborhood with Janssen. Neighbor May Aben is a loyal CDA voter, but tells Janssen that he will never vote for the party again when he joins Forum. And so there are more people against the collaboration.
Conny Kerkhof, former CDA party leader in the Brabant Provincial States, late News Hour know in writing to be “severely disappointed” “What does the CDA Brabant expect to achieve with it? I find this ‘escape route’ through the Forum shameful and in conflict with the principles that Christian Democracy stands for!”
Former chairman of CDA Brabant Wil van der Kruijs believes that FvD “is after stigmatization of entire population groups”. Jacques Leurs, who has been active for the CDA in Brabant in the past, promises that he will resist at a subsequent party congress and will submit motions if the CDA really starts working with Forum.
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“It works very well in Limburg”
In Limburg, the CDA is already working with FvD, among others. Baudet’s party even supplies a part-time representative for the provincial government. “It works very well here,” says Ger Koopmans, deputy for the CDA about the collaboration. With a so-called extra-parliamentary college, Limburg has a provincial government that relies on changing majorities, but Forum is important for the support.
According to Koopmans, it helped at the time in the CDA that all parties, including Forum, signed a statement in advance with principles. It says, for example, that everyone can believe what he or she wants. Moreover, the parties have mutually agreed not to be distracted by what politicians from The Hague do, such as sending Twitter messages. “In Limburg we talk to each other about what Limburg politicians are doing. That is difficult enough.”
“More moral leadership expected”
The fact that the fallen Brabant coalition was so much stricter than the national policy when it came to nitrogen policy is contradicted by left-wing parties. That would be better than expected and the CDA would listen too much to activist farmers, sounds from that angle. Today it was announced that the deadline for green adjustments in Brabant will be postponed.
Active, national CDA politicians, such as Wopke Hoekstra and Hugo de Jonge, do not speak out about the Brabant negotiations. They just say that it is up to the Brabant CDA department. But that too goes down the wrong way with part of the party. CDA member Leurs: “It is disappointing to me that the crown princes are waiting and say: ‘That is up to Brabant’. I expected more moral leadership.”
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