APROb Jetten
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 16:44
The newly elected D66 leader Rob Jetten, who was announced today that he has the support of 93 percent of party members, is “done with Hague games and polarization”. In an interview with the NOS, he says that he sees an era with new political leaders who “carry no baggage” and can “do things differently”. He himself especially wants to visit people at home, listen to problems and “bridge contradictions from the middle”.
Jetten realizes that the Netherlands is seen by some as a country of extremes where it “goes hard against hard”, but according to him it is also a country of “putting our shoulders together”. And that is badly needed, he says, because of the challenges in the areas of income, care, education and climate.
The 36-year-old Jetten takes over from Kaag, who talked about “new leadership” and a new management culture in the previous campaign. However, the latter hardly got off the ground. Jetten attributes this partly to the fight against the corona crisis and the war in Ukraine.
Jetten thinks that the time has come when this new culture will be given room and many political parties will see the importance of cooperation. As far as he is concerned, that is already happening in the campaign. “At home, no one is waiting for politicians who will only broadcast in the coming months to prove themselves right.”
‘Don’t be guided by polls’
Jetten realizes that it is difficult to regain the trust of people who have lost it in politics, including in D66. “But I’m not going to be guided by polls, I’m going to find the people,” he says. From Limburg to Groningen, from left to right.”
Jetten wants to profile D66 as a “green party” that is committed to climate, education and purchasing power in particular. Jetten does not see it as a problem that almost all other parties also endorse the climate objectives, and the new left-wing bloc of PvdA and GroenLinks with Frans Timmermans is profiling strongly on that theme. “Then we will only have more fighters to tackle the green agenda.”
When asked whether the left block is therefore the most logical partner for D66, Jetten expresses no preference. According to him, there will have to be cooperation “from the middle”.
With this, Jetten seems to want to prevent what happened last time: that progressive D66 voters were disappointed after the formation with the restart with VVD and CDA. According to Jetten, it was clear that that coalition was not their first preference at the time. “But a choice was made to take responsibility for making the country manageable,” said Jetten, who does not make it clear whether he will rule out such a choice next time.
All in all, Jetten realizes that it “will certainly be a tough job”. “But that’s the challenge I’m taking on. I want to bridge differences, instead of just magnifying them into extreme contradictions that are about nothing. This election is really about doing things differently.”
Political reporter Lars Geerts:
“With Jetten’s leadership, the course of the party will not immediately be very different, although tone and language may differ. Even though Jetten is young, in terms of new leadership and new management culture, it can be thrown at him that he is not entirely new and already participated as a minister in the old coalition.
Yet Jetten does have some political achievements to contribute that are attractive to progressive voters, such as becoming independent of Russian gas, tripling the size of offshore wind farms and the fact that he is co-founder of the largest climate package ever.
Being visible among the competitors will be the biggest challenge for D66 and Jetten. The new left bloc and the VVD will want a duel, and then there is also the BBB and perhaps a party Omtzigt. Parties such as D66, but also the CDA, will have to fight for attention.”
2023-08-12 14:44:45
#D66 #leader #Jetten #visit #people
