Parties still have to do a lot of work in ‘final week’ of formation | Politics

According to one of the negotiators, there is no fear of failure for the finals week, as the two informants mentioned last week. “A healthy competitive tension.”

The past week was used to gain insight into the financial picture. There was still informal contact between the party leaders of the forming four, but there were no official meetings with the informants.

According to those involved, all cards have now been laid on the table. Which party wants what? The CPB put price tags on this this week and the negotiators will start working with that information on Monday.

“We are not yet at the point where concessions are being made or where parties have indicated their lower limit,” says one person involved. However, there are already texts on which the parties “largely” agree. “But not everything is possible,” said an insider.

Many important decisions still have to be made in a short period of time. Still, there is hope that an outline agreement will be reached on Wednesday. One of the negotiators has already made private plans for next Thursday, Ascension Day.

A week later, the deadline given to the informants is Wednesday, May 15. This date will not be deviated from, it has always been emphasized.

The negotiating agreement is usually submitted to the factions. Sometimes some minor adjustments follow. It is still unclear whether that will actually happen.

The formation has been underway for almost half a year. During all this time, no parties other than PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB have been in the picture. A lot of water had to flow through the Rhine before the negotiators realized that there is currently no better alternative. To reach that point, the formation was first temporarily interrupted in February.

NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt called the “rule of law distance” between his faction and that of the PVV “too great”. A majority or minority cabinet with Geert Wilders’ PVV was therefore not negotiable for NSC.

Solutions have now been found for this. A “common baseline” was drawn up in which the four parties pledge to respect fundamental rights and the Constitution.

There will also be a so-called “program cabinet”, where the distance between the House of Representatives and the cabinet should be greater. This also means that all party leaders, including election winner Wilders, will remain in the House. It is not yet known who will be the prime minister.

All that helped to keep Omtzigt at the table. But the road to finals week was one of bumps and potholes. This formation is characterized by open threats and sneers via X and talk show tables. “A marriage of convenience at its best,” Omtzigt previously called the mutual relationships.

The fragile relationships are a result of the substantive differences. Not only when it comes to guaranteeing the rule of law. Asylum is also a difficult topic. At one point Wilders walked away from the negotiating table because he did not like the discussions about this.

Significantly fewer asylum seekers is the PVV’s biggest election promise and the most important commitment in the negotiations.

There are far-reaching plans on the table in this regard, reported the NOS last week. If the asylum problems were labeled as a crisis, the parties would have more room to take measures against the influx. But that conflicts with current laws and international treaties. And the question is whether such a crisis will hold up legally.

“You have to respect a treaty until you say that the situation is no longer tenable. You have to talk about that,” says one person involved. You can deviate from the rules under exceptional circumstances. “That is ultimately up to the judge,” is the thought of some parties at the formation table.

For Omtzigt, the importance of the rule of law always comes first, the NSC leader regularly emphasized. There has often been disagreement in the formation on this point between the NSC and the PVV in particular. The VVD seems to be a little more pragmatic about this. “The VVD is not the problem,” Wilders said two weeks ago when he expressed his dissatisfaction about asylum.

The finals week will show to what extent there is comfort between the forming four. In any case, it is certain that they have already been talking to each other for 166 days this Sunday. Since World War II, only three formations have lasted longer.