Mark Rutte wants to continue as party leader of the VVD and therefore also as prime minister. He says that in an interview in the The Telegraph. “As a country we are now facing an enormous ordeal because of corona,” said Rutte in the interview. “We are 17 million people trying to get over the mountain, with a map that shows us only partially the way. I want to lead this trial.”
Recently, the rumors in The Hague already that the VVD leader had made a decision, but he did not want to say anything about it until late in the afternoon. In the weekly meeting with the Prime Minister, Rutte also did not want to answer the question of whether he will continue or not. “At some point you will hear what my decision is”. Rutte knew that De Telegraaf would put the interview in which he explains his decision online tonight.
Ideas and energy
In the interview, Rutte says that he took the plunge last week. He took months to do this. Rutte thinks he has “the ideas and the energy” to keep going. “As long as I keep that, I want to continue.”
He acknowledges that there is a risk that he will sit for too long, which has also been a problem for former CDA leaders Balkenende and Lubbers and PvdA Prime Minister Kok. “It can also go wrong, yes. But the guiding principle should not be whether you have the fear that you have not stopped at your peak.”
If the VVD does not become the largest party, Rutte will become a Member of Parliament.
Rutte has been the political leader of the liberals for over fourteen years. He led the VVD list in the elections of 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2017 and has been prime minister since 2010. In the polls, the VVD has a street length ahead on other parties: in the Polling Guide, a weighted average of various polls, the party stands at 39 to 45 seats.
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