Senad Guraziu – Ars Poetica, June 23, 2025
…it is known that Belgium, Netherlands etc. can operate like an automatic political machine, as if nobody cares, citizens expect that Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg etc. can function very well without any cabinet or government at all, simply automatically : )
***
As the world knows, in the 1st week of June (2025), the right-wing Dutch cabinet had collapsed, just 11 months after ministers were sworn in, and after months of “heavy negotiations” (after the last elections). The cabinet that took a record 223 days to put together, almost 1 year. Dutch coalition government was an alliance between the VVD, PVV, BBB and NSC.
The “falls” of governments in the Netherlands have now become so common, almost as if they have become “traditional”. Experts and those involved in politics of course they know better than me, but in my opinion this “history of falls” can be considered now a “tradition”, the falls go on for at least the last 2 decades. It seems to me that The Hague has already “become accustomed” to cabinet acrobatics.
Thus we have at least 20 years of “tradition”, the history of falls is repeated at least since (if you remember the “affairs of peacekeeping missions”, the Srebrenica missions) the Kok II Cabinet, 1998-2002.
And now again… again and again. Some opposition party leaders had welcomed the cabinet collapse. According to D66 leader Rob Jetten some “coalition parties allowed themselves to be taken hostage by Wilders”.
Henri Bontebal of the CDA had described the coalition as reckless and irresponsible. Bontebal had said “We’ve had a year of political amateurism, the Dutch politics came to a standstill… the PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB were busy with their own issues rather than the country itself.”
But why the Dutch cabinet collapsed now? I don’t know exactly, how could I know the real reasons : ) Perhaps even Mr. Wilders himself has no clue. The collapse came after far-right politician Geert Wilders pulled out of the right-wing coalition, because of a dispute over anti-immigration measures his party had proposed.
The cabinet has fallen but the current ministers (except the PVV ones) will stay “on the duty”, in a caretaker capacity (demissionair), until the aftermath of the new general election, when time comes. The problem is, new elections will not take place until the autumn. But when time comes, once the votes have been counted, the process of forming a new government will begin – a process which again may take months, if not a whole year.
Everybody knows that forming a Dutch coalition can be a tricky challenge, the last time was 223 days, who knows about the next time, to have a functional government it requires at least 76 of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament. Myself, it’s true, I’m really apolitical, 100% apolitical, yet sometimes as if I “feel” I could help, as an intermedieter, if they only had asked, unfortunately the parties never ever have asked me for any kind of help, so far they needed no advices from me, no opinions, no fresh ideas, nothing at all : )
Thus… the Netherlands right now is functioning without a real cabinet. It’s the same “cabinet”, amost the same, yet it is not – has fallen, how could it be the same. But this wasn’t my concern – it is known that Belgium, Netherlands etc. can operate perfectly without any government, just like automatic political machines : )
In 2010-11, Belgium needed a total of 541 days of “negotiations”, they talked and talked, they agreed and disagreed, finally a government coalition was appointed after a total of 541 days of negotiations and after 589 days of state functioning without a government. If we consider that Brussels always pretends to be the “capital” of Europe, they always tell the world they are a “model capital” for advanced EU policies… then there’s no surprise, we should expect Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg etc. can funtction very well without any cabinet, without any politics or government at all, simply automatically.
My concern little bit was who speaks now truly for the “stance of the Netherlands” in relation to US attacks of sites in Iran, about the possibilty of escalation of war in the region. It’s so important now, it’s so crucial to have a voice, most important than ever. As we know USA is NATO, all of us members are NATO, the Europe gave Trump almost a trillion of extra $ about his + our NATO… so who speaks now in the Netherlands; the King himself, perhaps the Queen, each of politicians for themselves, the National Council about Wars, perhaps the “caretaker capacity” politicians can speak for all of us etc. etc. – that was my little concern.
And all I found while crawling the Dutch media spectrum, was nothing – so far the Dutch politicians are really “silent”, that means they are “pro” US attacks on Iran, 100% pro. The silence is the way Dutch politics shows to the world that NL is in accordance with US politics. Even the “caretaker” Prime Minister Schoof is extremely “diplomatic” and careful with his words, he believes it is “of the utmost importance that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon”. Thus that’s also clear, he fully agrees with thousands of silent Dutch politicians.
Some opposition parties have said they are extremely concerned by the US attack on Iran. According to NOS, GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans has labelled the US attack on Iran as “a reckless act”. Socialist Party leader Jimmy van Dijk had described the attack as “yet another illegal American war… the Netherlands must not get involved in any way”. D66 MP Jan Patternote has said – “Gaza threatens to disappear from the news, even though people are being shot just for going to get food”.
This is all that I can “report” for now about the Dutch voices concerning the US bombardments on Iran.