Minister Dijkgraaf in Op1 loud and clear about the future in the Wilders cabinet

Robbert Dijkgraaf at the table in Op1.
Screenshot: Op1 / NPO 1

Robbert Dijkgraaf was on the talk show last night On 1 invited to discuss the pro-Palestine demonstrations at universities. The presenters immediately seized the opportunity to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Science how he sees his future if ‘Geert Wilders’ cabinet comes into being.

Dijkgraaf (D66) is quite clear about this. Currently, PVV (Wilders), NSC (Omtzigt), VVD (Yeşilgöz) and BBB (Van der Plas) are still negotiating – and have been for months – about a new cabinet to be formed. Today, Ascension Day, that is on hold for a while. PVV leader Geert Wilders expects that the parties can reach an agreement, he said last night. “I think it is possible. It’s just going to take a while.” According to Caroline van der Plas (BBB), the negotiators “just need a little more time to explain some things.” The two were in a giggly mood anyway.

Pieter Omtzigt looks tired

NSC’s decision, which had previously been the subject of much discussion within the formation, came out of the meeting room very differently. He looked tired in front of the press, but still had his say about the progress. According to him, there are still “significant differences of opinion on several themes” between the four parties that are negotiating a new cabinet. He did not want to say where the problems lie. Well: “Of course it would have been more fun if we had been out today.”

Does Robbert Dijkgraaf still want to be a minister?

Robbert Dijkgraaf is therefore not participating in these cabinet negotiations at all. He spoke up On 1 about the student demonstrations and riots currently taking place in the Netherlands. Yet, when asked, he also did the same about the next cabinet. Speaker Carrie ten Napel: “Ministers are also needed. Are you available when they come out?” Dijkgraaf stated firmly: “Um, no… I will not sit in such an extreme right-wing cabinet.”

Former VVD politician Ed Nijpels immediately took over the floor at the table. “In retrospect, isn’t it actually a shame that the cabinet fell in the first place?” Nijpels also blames his own VVD for this, but says: “The cabinet has fallen about eighty family members. But if you look at the damage the economy is suffering, measures that are lagging behind…”

‘We had great plans’

Dijkgraaf: “If you look at the fact that we have a country that has had a functioning government for about a year and a half over the past 3.5 years… If you were to run a company in such a way, it would be broken. That is very difficult to explain. I also think it’s a shame. This cabinet… we had great plans. We were able to carry out some of this and we have also done a lot in the past year. Big decisions have been made and the world is not standing still.”

Dijkgraaf then discussed again how he views the ‘Wilders cabinet’: “I look forward with fear and trembling to what is to come. It really gets a whole lot more complicated and even more dysfunctional. And that is not what the country needs.”

You can watch Op1 again via NPO Start.