Nothing stands in the way of a joint candidate list of PvdA and GroenLinks in the next parliamentary elections. Members of both parties have amended the statutes at the party congress to make this possible.
The upcoming parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2025, but can also be held earlier if the cabinet does not sit out the ride. It is not said that the two parties will then go into the elections together; members of PvdA and GroenLinks will speak out about this in a member referendum by then.
At the congress, large majorities of both parties voted in favor of motions that strengthen cooperation. In this way, a duo membership is also made possible, as was decided at the conferences. Party leaders Mei Li Vos (PvdA) and Paul Rosenmöller (GroenLinks) for the Senate subsequently became members of each other’s party.
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According to PvdA leader Attje Kuiken, the separate congresses of PvdA and GroenLinks in one building, the Brabanthallen in Den Bosch, will ‘go down in the history books’. “It is a privilege to be the first party leader to speak at the joint congresses of PvdA and GroenLinks,” she said at the end of the joint campaign kick-off.
Left cloud
She attacked VVD leader Mark Rutte, ‘who filled the newspaper pages with fear mongering’. In an interview with The Telegraph he warned the Netherlands about ‘the left cloud’. Kuiken and GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver hit back in an interview with this site today by saying that the VVD is splitting the Netherlands in two.
GroenLinks leader Klaver saw ‘a new left-wing movement’ in Den Bosch, for which he laid the foundations with former PvdA party leader Lilianne Ploumen in her garden shed. Is this the best for the Labor Party? Or for GroenLinks? No idea,” said Klaver. “But this is the best for the Netherlands.”
According to Klaver, there is a battle of ideas going on. “Between capital and labour, market forces and cooperation and the profit of fossil companies and the future of our planet.” The VVD, he said, is also concerned about climate. “But then the climate in the wine cellar.”
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Turning point
If PvdA and GroenLinks become the largest in the provincial elections on March 15, Klaver says he will be able to adjust the cabinet’s policy. He asked the members to ‘campaign hard’ in ‘markets and squares’. “Then you will see that March 15 is not an election day, but a turning point for the Netherlands.”
Not all members are positive about the collaboration. There was also criticism in Den Bosch: that cooperation is going too fast, that differences are brushed aside. PvdA party chairman Esther-Mirjam Sent said she understands those concerns ‘very well’. “All options are open. That process may sometimes feel exciting, but we are just there together.”
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