Politics and Elections in the Netherlands: Rutte III era

[DavidB.]

The government has gotten into trouble over the already unpopular policy of scrapping the dividend tax, which will cost 1.4 billion euros annually. This policy was not in any party's manifesto, so people were surprised when it was suddenly part of the coalition agreement and the question was: who pushed for this policy to be implemented, and what are the benefits? We unofficially know that Rutte himself put forward this policy and we unofficially also know that Shell and Unilever requested for this policy to be adopted, but when asked whether there had been a memo by the Ministry of Economic Affairs with pros and cons, both Rutte and Eric Wiebes (VVD, Economic Affairs) had said no. This already seemed highly unlikely, as politicians just don't decide on a 1.4 billion policy without a memo by the Ministry of Economic Affairs or the Ministry of Finance, and now University of Amsterdam researchers found out through a request based on the Freedom of Information Act that hey, there was indeed a memo. Another big fat lie by Mark Rutte, but the government are trying to spin it as if the memo was not a memo but something else. The coalition parties have each other's back on this, but it does not look good and this is an amazing opportunity for the opposition, and particularly for GL and PvdA who have been going on about this all the time, to paint the government as only interested in the interests of multinationals (and it's hard to deny they have a point...); big business lobby organization VNO/NCW's proposal to double the property tax on ordinary households to make up for the costs does not make all of this look any better, to say the least...

[mvd10]

Yeah, scrapping the dividend tax really doesn't make any sense with all the tax deals the Netherlands has with foreign governments. I believe 75% of the tax cut would go to foreign governments because of the tax deals we have with them. Shell and Unilever were among the few corporations that cared about this anyway because they're closely intertwined with the UK, and only the UK has a 0% dividend tax rate.

By my own quick unprofessional estimate the 1.4 billion dividend tax cut also could be used to further cut the corporate tax to 19% (and 14% for smaller businesses). That would also improve Dutch business climate and it'd actually help Dutch businesses instead of foreign governments and the 10 people who live in countries that don't have a tax deal with the Dutch government (investors from eSwatini?).

Raising the OZB probably makes sense from a technocratic point of view (taxes on immobile stuff are efficient, Dutch property taxes aren't terribly high), but it does show that VNO-NCW cares more about the multinationals than it's small business base, and all the talk about across the board tax cuts was just to satisfy the base. I mean, economically it's not a bad proposal to shift more to property taxes but pls don't ever talk about stealth taxes on small businesses anymore VNO-NCW.

I'm surprised Wiebes got off so easily. Apparently he wrote a party document where he named some companies that didn't relocate to the Netherlands because of the dividend tax, but he wasn't allowed to disclose that information because of the strict rules for the tax authorities (and he had access to that information as State Secretary of Finance). I thought he'd get more trouble, as he already wasn't very popular as State Secretary of Finance.

Unsurprisingly Rutte didn't get in much trouble. The whole opposition except the SGP supported a "motie van afkeuring", but a "motie van afkeuring" usually is meant to criticise the government's policy and it isn't as bad as a motion of no confidence (which targets a person). So the fears that this would be Rutte's hardest debate ever were exaggerated, but it still was a tough debate for him.

[DavidB.]

NRC Handelsblad pointed out that this is the third time in one year that Rutte got off well, but never managed to convince the opposition or the public that he told the truth: first came the Security and Justice affair (this feels much longer ago though...), then Halbe Zijlstra's hilarious and catastrophical Putin lie, and now this; in all three cases, Rutte's position was questionable. Insiders say Rutte is considering running for a fourth term after this one, and I guess he would win another election (and even be the best potential VVD candidate), but at some point stuff like this has to erode his position, you'd say...

Another interesting point was that D66 and CU leaders Pechtold and Segers came to Rutte's defense, but CDA leader Buma refused to do so, saying he was an MP and not responsible for the government's handling of this issue. A sound position from a constitutional perspective, but he handled it in a very clumsy way and ended up looking worse than anyone else.

[Diouf]

Poll around the dividend tax:



I'm guessing CU is not included since they are too small. Only VVD voters are in favour, while the voters of the two other government parties are clearly against. Most opposition parties are naturally wholly against, but I am perhaps a bit surprised by the FvD figures. I would have thought they would have more "right-right" voters, who would share economics views with VVD or be even further right. 

[mvd10]

Poll around the dividend tax:



I'm guessing CU is not included since they are too small. Only VVD voters are in favour, while the voters of the two other government parties are clearly against. Most opposition parties are naturally wholly against, but I am perhaps a bit surprised by the FvD figures. I would have thought they would have more "right-right" voters, who would share economics views with VVD or be even further right. 

Economically they're more right-wing (and more affluent) than PVV voters, but cultural issues trump economic issues for them. Wilders (and Baudet) painted it as a present for foreign investors and governments. They might be more fiscally conservative than the PVV, but for logical reasons they're not very enthusiastic about cutting taxes for foreign investors. And they're probably going to oppose everything the government will put forward because 'party cartel'.

I don't think there is much space for a "right-right" party that shares the economic platform of the VVD and the social/cultural platform of the PVV. VNL tried hard to be that party and it didn't work. A journalist of a prominent right-wing/far-right site got savaged by his readers after he wrote an article in support of VNL's proposal to cut the minimum welfare benefit by 10%. Meanwhile FvD largely shunned economic issues and tried to be a more respectable/intellectual/transparent version of the PVV and it worked out very well. FvD voters probably like lower taxes and they might be not as nostalgic for the 1970s welfare state as PVV voters, but they probably see larger businesses/investors and free marketeers as leftists who want to flood the Netherlands with hordes of cheap foreign labour. Most 'right-right' voters probably are content with the VVD, which remains a fundamentally centre-right/right-wing party even though the VVD Amsterdam makes a left-wing gaffe from time to time.

[DavidB.]

Completely in agreement with mvd10's analysis.

Today's Peil poll has quite some shifts compared to last week due to the debate on the abolition of the dividend tax, with the government parties all losing seats:

VVD 24 (-1)
GL 17 (+1)
FvD 16 (+1)
SP 15 (+1)
CDA 13 (-2)
PVV 13 (+1)
D66 12 (-1)
PvdA 12 (+1)
PvdD 8 (nc)
50Plus 7 (nc)
DENK 5 (nc)
SGP 3 (nc)

Only 18% now support the abolition of the dividend tax, compared to 26% last week. 40% of GE17 VVD voters, 17% of GE17 CDA voters and 19% of GE17 D66 voters support it. 76% think Rutte lied, 73% think Buma, Segers and Pechtold lied, and 61% would have voted for the motion of disapproval that was supported by all the opposition parties except for the SGP. 67% think Rutte "often has difficulty with the truth", and 71% think Rutte should not remain PM after this term. A rather damning picture.

[TheSaint250]

It's pretty amazing to see the polls regularly show:

1. VVD (Liberals)
2. SP (Socialists)/GL (Greens)
3. FvD (Right-Wing Populists)

[windjammer]

Poll around the dividend tax:



I'm guessing CU is not included since they are too small. Only VVD voters are in favour, while the voters of the two other government parties are clearly against. Most opposition parties are naturally wholly against, but I am perhaps a bit surprised by the FvD figures. I would have thought they would have more "right-right" voters, who would share economics views with VVD or be even further right. 

Economically they're more right-wing (and more affluent) than PVV voters, but cultural issues trump economic issues for them. Wilders (and Baudet) painted it as a present for foreign investors and governments. They might be more fiscally conservative than the PVV, but for logical reasons they're not very enthusiastic about cutting taxes for foreign investors. And they're probably going to oppose everything the government will put forward because 'party cartel'.

I don't think there is much space for a "right-right" party that shares the economic platform of the VVD and the social/cultural platform of the PVV. VNL tried hard to be that party and it didn't work. A journalist of a prominent right-wing/far-right site got savaged by his readers after he wrote an article in support of VNL's proposal to cut the minimum welfare benefit by 10%. Meanwhile FvD largely shunned economic issues and tried to be a more respectable/intellectual/transparent version of the PVV and it worked out very well. FvD voters probably like lower taxes and they might be not as nostalgic for the 1970s welfare state as PVV voters, but they probably see larger businesses/investors and free marketeers as leftists who want to flood the Netherlands with hordes of cheap foreign labour. Most 'right-right' voters probably are content with the VVD, which remains a fundamentally centre-right/right-wing party even though the VVD Amsterdam makes a left-wing gaffe from time to time.

Well,
People seem to be voting FvD because this is trendy, a bit like voting EM in 2017 in France.

Dear god democracy

[DavidB.]

Coalition agreement of GL, D66, PvdA, SP soon to be presented in Amsterdam. I guess people deserve what they vote for.

[mvd10]

Coalition agreement of GL, D66, PvdA, SP soon to be presented in Amsterdam. I guess people deserve what they vote for.

I was about to call for Amsterdam-Zuid separatism, but even Amsterdam-Zuid is quite left-wing despite its affluence (VVD only got 25% there or so vs 21% nationwide). For heaven's sake, even the Zuidas (Dutch Wall Street + loads of lawyers) voted 'only' 40% VVD (32% D66). It all depends on how you see D66 I suppose. If parties have to be arbitrarily divided in a left-wing camp and a right-wing camp people tend to put D66 with the left, but I imagine D66 voters would be split 50/50 in a VVD vs generic centre-left party race.

[DavidB.]

Coalition agreement of GL, D66, PvdA, SP soon to be presented in Amsterdam. I guess people deserve what they vote for.

I was about to call for Amsterdam-Zuid separatism, but even Amsterdam-Zuid is quite left-wing despite its affluence (VVD only got 25% there or so vs 21% nationwide). For heaven's sake, even the Zuidas (Dutch Wall Street + loads of lawyers) voted 'only' 40% VVD (32% D66). It all depends on how you see D66 I suppose. If parties have to be arbitrarily divided in a left-wing camp and a right-wing camp people tend to put D66 with the left, but I imagine D66 voters would be split 50/50 in a VVD vs generic centre-left party race.

So many affluent people and families still vote for D66 in Amsterdam, I would even say the average D66 voter in Amsterdam would be more right-wing economically than the average D66 voter nationally. D66 Amsterdam are bound to lose a lot of these voters to the VVD in the next election, especially since the VVD Amsterdam have quite a soft, social-liberal image anyway. Add to that the fact that D66's national reputation will be rather bad in 2022 (unless the government collapses in 2019 already) and that they will probably crash and burn in the next general election... But meanwhile, the left-wing coalition's policy will suck, of course.

[jeron]

Coalition agreement of GL, D66, PvdA, SP soon to be presented in Amsterdam. I guess people deserve what they vote for.

I was about to call for Amsterdam-Zuid separatism, but even Amsterdam-Zuid is quite left-wing despite its affluence (VVD only got 25% there or so vs 21% nationwide). For heaven's sake, even the Zuidas (Dutch Wall Street + loads of lawyers) voted 'only' 40% VVD (32% D66). It all depends on how you see D66 I suppose. If parties have to be arbitrarily divided in a left-wing camp and a right-wing camp people tend to put D66 with the left, but I imagine D66 voters would be split 50/50 in a VVD vs generic centre-left party race.

Many people fail to make a distinction between progressive and left. Nationally, D66 is more centre right than centre left. D66 is progressive but economically it is certainly not left.
32% for D66 at the Zuidas is hardly a surprise, since D66 has always had a lot of support among lawyers, judges and other legal professionals.

[mvd10]

Coalition agreement of GL, D66, PvdA, SP soon to be presented in Amsterdam. I guess people deserve what they vote for.

I was about to call for Amsterdam-Zuid separatism, but even Amsterdam-Zuid is quite left-wing despite its affluence (VVD only got 25% there or so vs 21% nationwide). For heaven's sake, even the Zuidas (Dutch Wall Street + loads of lawyers) voted 'only' 40% VVD (32% D66). It all depends on how you see D66 I suppose. If parties have to be arbitrarily divided in a left-wing camp and a right-wing camp people tend to put D66 with the left, but I imagine D66 voters would be split 50/50 in a VVD vs generic centre-left party race.

Many people fail to make a distinction between progressive and left. Nationally, D66 is more centre right than centre left. D66 is progressive but economically it is certainly not left.
32% for D66 at the Zuidas is hardly a surprise, since D66 has always had a lot of support among lawyers, judges and other legal professionals.

Yes, but internally there are some parts of D66 that want to move to the left. And D66 hasn't always been fiscally conservative, back in the 70s D66 very clearly was part of the left. The Zuidas probably is more of a lawyer's paradise instead of a Dutch Wall Street (since most foreign banks probably run Dutch operations in London or Frankfurt) so you're right about D66 support in the Zuidas. I still expected the VVD to do somewhat better though.

Anyway, more big news: there will be new judges in Wilders 'fewer Moroccans' case. Wilders' request for substitution of the judges has been accepted. Wilders claimed the judges were biased and he complained that it's unfair that Pechtold didn't get investigated even though he said something negative about Russian citizens while Wilders is getting prosecuted for his statement. This will delay the trial, and it gives Wilders new ammunition to rail against the 'D66 judges'.

[mvd10]

Coming man and probably future VVD leader Klaas Dijkhoff had a rather controversial speech yesterday. He proposed to reform welfare so that you get lower unemployment benefits unless you can prove you are actively searching for a job or doing something else that contributes to society (I support it, it isn't a very radical change anyway), he proposed to stop automatically granting citizenship to refugees who have been here for 5 years (support), on refugees he said: 'We temporarily take you in and we give you an education so you can go back and build up your own country' (great idea!), he said the Netherlands should support people who want to liberate themselves from the yoke of extremist Islam (another great idea!) and he said the VVD should stop generalizing all Dutch citizens with a migration background because 'the Moroccan girl who is studying isn't responsible for the behaviour of criminal 'capuchonklootzakjes' (so true!). Snowflake journalists and most of my friends are crying leftist tears. I love Klaas Dijkhoff even more. Please make this man PM already .

The only thing I didn't like was that he said the VVD is there for 'good people'. That was a bit too much lol.

I guess Dijkhoff really is positioning himself to be the next VVD leader btw. Rutte started out as a very centrist leader, but he only really succeeded after he shifted to the right so I guess Dijkhoff doesn't want to repeat Rutte's mistake. It's just blatantly obvious that he will succeed Rutte, especially after other potential contenders dropped out one by one (Zijlstra, Hennis-Plasschaert, Schippers). Only Edith Schippers deciding she wants to return to politics could be an obstacle. But Rutte has a few more years in him, and who knows what happens next so maybe this is a bit premature.

[DC Al Fine]

Apologies if this has been asked before, but how do Jews vote in the Netherlands? Is there much variation in the community (i.e. nominal vs Haredi)

[mvd10]

Apologies if this has been asked before, but how do Jews vote in the Netherlands? Is there much variation in the community (i.e. nominal vs Haredi)

Orthodox Christian parties win a lot of votes from Jews (I imagine because of their strong support for Israel). I believe the VVD also is overrepresented. Most Jews live in Amsterdam or Amstelveen (Amsterdam suburb). Amstelveen votes VVD and the parts of Amsterdam where Jews tend to live also vote strongly VVD, but I'm not sure whether that means means much since Jews probably aren't a sizable group even in these places. There are about 50.000 Jews in the Netherlands, so it's hard to find representative polls and it's even harder to differentiate between groups in the community. I imagine David knows a lot about this though. As a Catholic who grew up in a relatively rural/exurban place and attends an university in a non-Randstad city I've never even met a Dutch Jew so I'm probably not the best person to comment on this (I have met a couple of Jews in NYC, but that's it).

I can't help to think to see parallels between how Jews were treated by the Calvinist rules in 1600s Noord-Holland (compared to Catholics) and how CU-SGP do with Jews (compared to Catholics). While Jews obviously still faced a lot of hate and discrimination they were allowed to build their synagogue, while the Calvinists didn't allow Catholics to build a Catholic church in Amsterdam (being a Catholic wasn't illegal, but it excluded you from political positions and you could only visit secret churches). Nowadays CU+SGP (strongly Protestant parties) do very well with Jews but they still struggle to make inroads with religous Catholics because of their anti-papal past. Maybe it's a #hot take, but it's still interesting to see. A lot of Dutch Jews were killed during the Holocaust because the Neterlands had a very advanced civilian register and the Dutch government didn't show any compassion at all when Jews returned after WW2. So I guess that's why there are relatively few Jews in the Netherlands even though the Netherlands has quite a history with Jewish immigrants. But seriously, the first thing Jews from Amsterdam received after returning from the camps was a fine for not paying their leasehold payments. I guess governments from Amsterdam being absolutely terrible isn't  just a recent phenomenon.

This is a poll on how Jews intended to vote in 2017. It's important you compare the numbers to the polls at that moment because quite a lot happened the last week of the campaign. CU and SGP strongly overperform and the VVD is overrepresented. PvdA also does quite well even though they underperformed in 2012. 40% identifies as liberal Jews, 18% as culturally Jewish, 14% as Orthodox and 8% as atheist. The people in the poll were disproportionally well-educated (not sure whether Jews are disproportionally well-educated or whether it's just the poll, I imagine it's a combination of both) and they identify a little more as right-wing than as left-wing, but that's also true with the general populace from what I've seen.

[mvd10]

The very left-wing coalition in Amsterdam (GL-D66-PvdA-SP) inevitably will clash with the current centre-right national coalition. Yesterday a bunch of illegal refugee squatters almost got in a fight with some people. One of those people apparently was the son of former VVD alderman Eric van der Burg. I wonder how D66 will handle it. They're both in the left-wing Amsterdam coalition and in the centre-right national coalition. I imagine it would have been much better for D66 if both Amsterdam and the national government had the broadly centrist VVD-CDA-D66-GL coalitions D66 desperately wanted. One of the most controversial plans of the new Amsterdam coalition is to create a shelter for refused refugees where they can stay for up to 1,5 year. Ironically the squatters aren't happy with it and want even more generous rules for refused refugees. Other than the coalition in Amsterdam proposes a bunch of tax hikes, more social housing and measures to limit the amount of tourists to keep Amsterdam 'livable' for Amsterdammers. I guess Amsterdam will be a free port for the #Resistance against anything remotely resembling the right .

Rotterdam might very well get an 'anything but Leefbaar' coalition. Leefbaar Rotterdam is a very successful local right-wing party (however unlike other RWP's they've been fairly successful in government). But the left-wing parties don't want to work with Leefbaar after they allied with Thierry Baudet and it looks like we're heading for VVD-D66-GL-PvdA-CDA-CU/SGP. Or if we use parochialboy's thread: a coalition between the money money money party, woke centrists, bicycles and quinoa party, social democrats and generalised panic, obsolete Christians, humanist Christians and the GOD party. Nothing could possibly go wrong .

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Rotterdam might very well get an 'anything but Leefbaar' coalition. Leefbaar Rotterdam is a very successful local right-wing party (however unlike other RWP's they've been fairly successful in government). But the left-wing parties don't want to work with Leefbaar after they allied with Thierry Baudet and it looks like we're heading for VVD-D66-GL-PvdA-CDA-CU/SGP. Or if we use parochialboy's thread: a coalition between the money money money party, woke centrists, bicycles and quinoa party, social democrats and generalised panic, obsolete Christians, humanist Christians and the GOD party. Nothing could possibly go wrong .

Well, the First Inter-Party Government in Eire lasted 3 years because of mutual fear+dislike of Fianna Fail.

[DavidB.]

In The Hague, a Groep De Mos-VVD-D66-GroenLinks coalition was formed; in Utrecht, it's going to be GroenLinks-D66-ChristenUnie. The coalition in Rotterdam is going to be an absolute abomination: seven parties in six groups with a majority of exactly one. The VVD youth wing in Rotterdam, known for being particularly right-wing and outspoken, already sharply criticized the VVD's choice to form this coalition.

Apologies if this has been asked before, but how do Jews vote in the Netherlands? Is there much variation in the community (i.e. nominal vs Haredi)

In addition to the excellent response by mvd10 I would say the following:

- Good to keep in mind that almost all observant Jews live in the Amsterdam metro area, more specifically in Amsterdam South and in Amstelveen. The number of Haredim is extremely small, and the percentage of the Jewish population that is completely assimilated and "gone" from a community perspective is even higher than in most other Western European countries, which means there is hardly any "Jewish infrastructure" in terms of shops etc. outside Amsterdam -- and even in Amsterdam it is relatively poor.
- From the bad news to the good news: Jews in the Netherlands are slightly more likely to vote for the right than the general population
- The PvdA receive many more votes among Jews than among the general population: within the Jewish community, we have what could be considered the last "ideologically true" Social Democratic pillar organizations, including ideological commitment to Social Democracy and Labour Zionism. The PvdA being seen as a moderate, "don't rock the boat" party helps too, as does the fact that the PvdA has historically had many Jewish politicians (with two leaders of Jewish descent this decade, Cohen and Asscher), and that many Jews live in Amsterdam.
- This goes at the expense of support for GL and SP, however. D66 is also much less popular with Jews: too right-wing for the real lefties, too anti-Israel for the relatively big Jewish demographic that does hold views that are somewhere between D66 and the VVD.
- CU are also popular with some Jewish leftists, not only because of Israel but also because of the lack of "extreme secularism", respect for religion in a relatively non-bothersome way to people who aren't that religious themselves, and attention for climate/refugees etc.
- On the right, the CDA underperform. The PVV used to perform about the same as with the general population but slightly underperformed last time around because VNL and FVD were seen as better alternatives to higher educated Jews to whom the PVV were a bit too vulgar: both VNL and FVD overperformed by a lot with Jews, and FVD overperformed with Jews in the local elections too. The SGP overperform too, not only because of Israel but also because of their genuine concern for our community's well-being.
- The more observant (/traditional/orthodox etc.), the more likely Jews are to vote for the right. Few people who go to orthodox synagogues on a regular basis vote for parties to the left of the VVD. In my orthodox synagogue, more than half of the "regulars" voted PVV, VNL or FVD. Small sample size, admittedly (N=15 or so), and we might be an outlier (most of us are actually relatively young which isn't the case elsewhere) and usually VVD and SGP would get a big share of this electorate too, but there is a trend here.
- Younger Jews are more right-wing than older Jews and more likely to vote for FVD and PVV (and less likely to vote for SGP or PvdA). There are many highly educated Jewish young professionals in Amsterdam who are part of every typical D66 demographic except for their Judaism, which makes them have a very different perspective and causes them vote for PVV or FVD (I guess I sort of belong to this group too: I fit right in there). If they have an Israeli background, they are almost certain to vote for one of the latter two parties.

[mvd10]

Rutte wants former Foreign Affairs minister Halbe Zijlstra to become the Dutch executive director at the World Bank. Zijlstra resigned a few months ago after it was revealed he lied about attending a meeting with Putin in 2006. Zijlstra claimed Putin said he basically wanted to restore the old Soviet Union, but Zijlstra wasn't there and Putin didn't even say what Zijlstra claimed. Apparently only Rutte wants this though, Finance minister Hoekstra (CDA) is strongly opposed because Zijlstra lacks obvious experience for this function (just like he allegedly lacked experience for the Foreign Affairs post). Pechtold also was surprised. Rutte loves to keep his loyalists close (and Zijlstra is really close to Rutte), so this could lead to allegations of nepotism/'party cartel'.

Bad politics or not, I would support this appointment. Halbe Zijlstra died for our sins. His lie was a pure act of self-sacrifice by a great man. So beautiful .

[mvd10]

As the coalition probably will lose its majority after the senate elections in 2019 centre-left parties already reached out to the coalition. Both the PvdA and GreenLeft have signalled they are willing to help the coalition to a majority, but they want some things in return (no benefit cuts, don't repeal the dividend tax, lower healthcare co-payments, etc).

Another episode in the dividend tax saga. Apparently Shell has been evading the dividend tax since 2005, for a total of 7 billion euros (500 million per year). The dividend tax itself only brings in about 1.5 billion euros a year, so it seems like Shell and Unilever are practically the only companies to be affected by it. Since the bulk of the tax cut indirectly flows to foreign governments (tax deals) there doesn't really seem to be any economic rationale for this anymore, except for keeping Shell and Unilever here. I imagine huge multinationals like Shell and Unilever being headquartered here gives Rutte some credentials in other countries or whatever, because I can't think of any other reason for this decision.

A majority of PvdA members wants far-reaching cooperation between PvdA, GL and SP. They want to present 1 left-wing list for the provincial (and senate) elections. The party leadership doesn't want it (and neither does Klaver or the SP leadership). I'm not really sure whether it would be a good idea either. GL voters disproportionally are university students or university-educated millennials, the last PvdA voters mostly are some ancestral PvdA voters from Groningen and older well-educated middle-class voters (civil servants, teachers, etc) and SP mainly consists out of very poor people or people living on benefits. The workerist wing of the SP and the more centrist wing of GL probably will clash. Then again, any winning left-wing coalition probably needs to unite lower middle-class 'economically anxious' voters, university students and left-leaning middle-class voters to win anyway.

[DavidB.]

Absurd from a strategic point of view that Asscher already started talking about lending a helping hand to Rutte-III, even though the party membership clearly do not accept this (yet, because it is probably going to happen anyway). Asscher just cannot help himself, which once again proves that the PvdA are so deeply middle-class/establishmentarian/"don't rock the boat" oriented and at the same time so spineless. They still don't understand why people left in droves. I suppose it is fine for the PvdA to help out Rutte-III under certain circumstances, but it is Rutte-III that should beg for it, with the PvdA demanding big concessions at that point. Looking forward to the PvdA winning only 4 or 5 Senate seats next year.

[DavidB.]

In the 2017 GE campaign, DENK were on the verge of running fake PVV ads with the text "After 15 March, we will cleanse the Netherlands", Radio 1 and NRC discovered. In order to check whether the ads would be allowed on YouTube, 11,000 Germans (lol) watching the German version of Fireman Sam (lol) were exposed to a pilot version of the ad. A more extreme version ("After 15 March, we will cleanse the Netherlands from Moroccans") was designed but rejected earlier on. The intention was to show voters that Wilders continues to go one step further everytime (and presumably to scare Turkish and Moroccan voters into voting DENK too). Only later it would be revealed that DENK were behind the ad. The online ads would link to the official PVV website. Ultimately, however, DENK decided not to use the ads because they would be beyond the pale. In classic DENK fashion, they will now sue the Radio 1 journalists who found out about this story.

[DC Al Fine]

Aha wow, just wow.

[mvd10]

A van has crashed into the Telegraaf office in Amsterdam (De Telegraaf is a quite right-wing newspaper but politics probably didn't play a role in the attack). It's presumed that organized crime is behind the attack, as the office of crime magazine Panorama also was attacked. It's probably one of the motor clubs that recently was declared illegal. Luckily no people have been harmed at either attack.

More problems for Rutte. Rutte said he didn't know about a tax deal the Dutch government had with some undisclosed multinational, but apparently he did know (in 2014 civil servants gave him a memo). Lately there has been a lot of controversy about Rutte not being entirely honest all the time (especially when it's about the dividend tax repeal or tax breaks for multinationals), so this is terrible optics. FvD has run an ad which included blasting Rutte for bowing to the EU and to multinationals. It's not just the left attacking Rutte for this.

It still isn't certain who the next mayor of Amsterdam will be. The two most prominent candidates seem to be former GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema and former PvdA Amsterdam alderwoman Carolien Gehrels (I have to be honest, I had to look her up lol). Neither has heavy experience (big city mayor, minister, etc), but SJW municipality Amsterdam really can't afford to choose a white straight male . Right-wing parties seem to support the PvdA candidate, more progressive parties want Halsema. These are all just rumours since the members of the commission which will select candidates for the council to vote on legally aren't allowed to tell us anything. Halsema's total lack of experience (she's only been a MP) might be a problem, Gehrels atleast has some executive experience as an alderwoman.