If the formation with Wilders fails, SP leader Jimmy Dijk will have to hold new elections. “We are not going to join a Timmermans cabinet,” says Dijk. “Such a cabinet seems very unwise to us.”
The Groningen politician said this in an interview about his first hundred days as party leader of the SP. “A Timmermans cabinet would do far too little for social security, because it would include liberal parties such as the VVD and D66.”
Not that the SP’s five seats would be necessary. A middle cabinet of GL-PvdA, VVD, NSC and D66 would already have a majority of 78 seats. A center-left cabinet without VVD would be a minority cabinet.
“But you shouldn’t want that after the election results with the wins of the PVV, BBB and NSC,” says Dijk. “First the parties that won have to show it.”
He predicts that they will not fulfill their promises in the field of migration and social security. “They are not going to deliver. Not even Timmermans.”
Jimmy Dijk 5 kilos lighter due to fewer beers
The 38-year-old Dijk is on edge after his first months as party leader in the House of Representatives. “We have taken the upward path. I just need to become a little more famous.”
The first weeks after he took over party leadership from Lilian Marijnissen in December were tough. “There’s so much coming your way. But already around Christmas I started to really enjoy it and wondered why I found it so hard those first days.”
He has lost five kilos. “Just by drinking fewer beers and running a bit. Now that I am sometimes recognized on the street, it is also more difficult to go to the pub with friends.”
But he is not recognized often enough, certainly not compared to Lilian Marijnissen. The SP is slowly starting to improve in the polls. In the elections the party won 5 seats, then it dropped to 3 seats and now the SP is at 7. “So just as big as the BBB,” he says. “We still have a lot of growth to do. We have it in us to become the greatest, I am convinced of that.”
He has already been to OP1 six times. “Of course I have to work on my fame. I hear that some colleagues impose all kinds of conditions regarding who they will or will not sit at the table with. It doesn’t matter to me, I find it fun and just laugh along with everyone.”
‘Class of wealthy people who do not have to work’
His political language is different from that of his predecessor, who seemed averse to ideology. Dijk often talks about ‘the working class’. A Marxist term that fits May 1, Labor Day. “Much of the dissatisfaction in society is due to the wounded pride of the working class,” is his analysis.
“There is a whole class of wealthy people who do not have to work for their money. And people who are proud of their profession are mistrusted. Have to fill in all kinds of lists and be accountable. While they know best how to do their work well.”
Dijk has thought carefully about the use of that loaded word ‘class’. “I heard from young people I talk to a lot that they are very concerned about the future of the world and also need a big story about where we are going. That is exactly what is missing in three of the four parties that are now forming. The BBB, NSC and PVV have no ideology, they are a collection of positions. That goes wrong if you are governing and unexpectedly encounter problems. That is already apparent. They won the elections on social security, but when it comes to making choices, they can’t make it.”
He believes that the ‘left’ on the other hand has too little respect for labor. “Socialists must concern themselves with work and the economy. I don’t see that at all with liberal-left parties. They actually want to close Tata Steel, but eleven thousand people work there. The Tata works council has good plans to make work there much cleaner.”
‘SP has always believed that migrants should learn Dutch’
The SP also dares to be critical of migration, says Dijk. “We always say that all migrants must learn the Dutch language. All those liberal cabinets never wanted to do anything about that. Guest workers came and they did not have to learn the language because they would leave anyway. The result was that people did not speak the language. That is the opposite of emancipation.”
His party wants a temporary stop on labor migration. And to limit the number of asylum seekers, the SP supports the European asylum deal. “Receive refugees at the European external borders and from there distribute them fairly among European countries,” says Dijk.
The SP in Europe is therefore choosing a different course than the radical left faction in the European parliament to which the party belonged together with the Party for the Animals. In the past period, the SP did not have a seat in Brussels. According to the polls, there will now be one seat again after the elections on June 6. “But within that faction the SP can vote differently than the rest.”
‘Shocked by reluctance about deductible and minimum wage’
In the meantime, in the House of Representatives he continues to challenge the forming parties about the deductible, minimum wage and a millionaires’ tax. After fourteen years in the Groningen city council, The Hague took some getting used to for him.
“It’s more hectic and there are more spotlights everywhere. That also means that politicians want to score more. The problems are also bigger. And it is especially economically more right-wing than Groningen. I was shocked at how much political reluctance there was to raise the minimum wage and lower deductibles or rents. We have achieved some things. The cuts to elderly care stopped, the exit tax for millionaires, the prevention of private equity in healthcare. But it was not easy to get other parties on board.”
