6 months Ago
Angry and Frustrated Coalition Allies
Caroline van der Plas, the leader of the BBB, strongly condemned Wilders not just for quitting the coalition, but also for the manner in which he walked out — on Twitter. "You don't govern a country on Twitter," she said. Van der Plas attacked Wilders for being selfish, abandoning his pledges and not fighting the sovereignty policy for which he clamored.
She also insisted that Wilders' Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber already had the authority to effect the policy changes he was calling for. "But he's just not that fazed," she said. The BBB held an emergency meeting immediately following the fallout.
NSC leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven, who succeeded Pieter Omtzigt recently, also criticised Wilders's behaviour. She outlined a tense final meeting with coalition partners, where Wilders insisted on immediate agreement to his 10-point asylum plan. "We said: just give them to your minister … but we could not agree to commit in advance," she said, expressing his departure as "truly irresponsible."
Coalition Faulted for Dysfunction, Opposition Says
The CDA leader, Henri Bontenbal, condemned the collapse as reckless and irresponsible, and accused the coalition of political immaturity. The Cabinet of ministers, he said, spent their year in power in internal bickering rather than national progress. "PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB were mostly in business of themselves," he said.
Bontenbal also accused Wilders of trying to make policy via social media, and said Wilders "never had any intention of honoring appointments made in a coalition. He called on Prime Minister Dick Schoof to remain during the caretaker.
Rob Jetten, the leader of D66, was even blunter. He called Wilders "unreliable, unpredictable," and contended that the far-right leader was never serious about solving problems.
Forum for Democracy leader Thierry Baudet is disappointed. With an eye to a new right-wing majority, Baudet reiterated his party's readiness to form a new coalition, but blamed Wilders for squandering a rare chance to rein in immigration. "A crying shame," he wrote on social media.
