Most of the membership of the new Dutch cabinet has now been announced (or leaked). Our Dutch correspondent H. Numan has the report.

We have a new Dutch cabinet

by H. Numan

Ladies and gentlemen, with regret I can inform you we have a new Dutch cabinet. It’ll be the cabinet Beria 1. Proof Geert Wilders is not the leader he portrays himself to be. Almost. But not quite. He lost on just about every major point against the combo Omtzigt — Yeşilgöz. Pieter Omtzigt did the dirty work, in the background supported by Dilan Yeşilgöz.

Omtzigt behaved like an unruly toddler. He whined. He cried. He stamped his feet. He walked out. But he got his way:

• No party leaders will take part in the cabinet
• All candidate PMs proposed by Wilders were rejected

That’s pretty big. It is customary in Dutch politics that the largest party supplies the Prime Minister, and that person is almost always the leader of the party. In other words: Wilders. To make it more palatable, Omtzigt and Yeşilgöz agreed no party leaders would join the cabinet. Even so, Wilders caved in where he should have shown his mettle.

During the negotiations, Wilders presented several candidates who were all rejected and humiliated. Let’s be honest. EVERY politician has something to hide. Maybe not a lot, but all do. Even Wilders and Trump. You can admire them, as I do. As long as you realize you don’t get to that position without stepping on a few toes and making a some mistakes. What Omtzigt did was find some dirt and give it to the media to do the rest. Every candidate from Wilders was taken to the cleaners.

Both Omtzigt and Yeşilgöz told Wilders — in private, of course — no matter who you nominate, we will block him. Even if you dig up William the Silent himself, we’ll reject him. You accept our candidate, or there won’t be a cabinet.

Wilders eventually caved in. The new prime minister will be Dick Schoof. This guy is currently without a party, which makes him acceptable according to the rules set by Omtzigt and Yeşilgöz. However, his previous positions were head of the AIVD and NCTV. In other words, Omtzigt and Yeşilgöz got their man in the number one spot. The AIVD stands for Algemene Inlichtingen en Veiligheidsdienst, that is our FBI. NCTV stands for Nationaal Coördinator Terrorismebestrijding en Veiligheid, our Homeland Security. In other words, Lavrenty Beria himself. He is a career civil servant, known for dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.

We have no idea how this cabinet will work, but I’m not too optimistic about it. At this moment last minute adjustments are being made. A PVV candidate (who else?) was just rejected over his security clearance. That means someone else must be found, approved, and vetted. I won’t bother you with their names. You don’t know them. All of them are second-tier, anyway.

The general opinion is optimistic, though. In a way I share that sentiment. It’s better than nothing, for sure. The alternative would have been worse. Even so, the fact that Omtzigt was able to get his candidate as premier and that this man used to be the man rounding up dissidents is not good news. Especially as this chap focused entirely on right-wing extremism and is woefully naïve about muslim extremism. We don’t even have right-wing extremism in The Netherlands. Nothing. Zero. Oh, sorry. Yes there are a few unemployed nutcases, but you can count them on the fingers of one hand. Those very few teenagers, for that’s what they mainly are, are supposed to be a severe threat to our national security. But not a peep about the many highly-organized left-wing extremist networks or likewise muslim extremists. Not from our Beria.

You see, that worries me. Officially the Dutch prime minister, is like a mayor, primus inter pares, or first among equals. He’s supposed to have the deciding vote when the votes are tied. Nothing more. In reality, it’s vastly different. To give you an example: this week the mayor of a small town forbade the viewing of a documentary in the local community center. The town has an asylum center, and understandably the population wasn’t asked anything about it. This movie is nothing but a documentary about asylum seekers, albeit a conservative one (we don’t want them, we got reasons!).

The council didn’t ask for a ban. The aldermen didn’t ask for a ban. Nobody in the town itself asked for a ban. But the mayor found this movie ‘controversial’ and ‘stirring up hatred’ and forbade it. And… nobody complained. The order was given, and executed. No movie. We don’t know if Dick Schoof will govern like that. It’s possible. It’s certainly not unlikely. But we do not know.

That’s the key phrase here: we do not know. Anything can happen. Pessimistic as I am, I expect for the first few months nothing at all. It is June. Our hard-working parliamentarians will take their well-deserved three-month summer holiday soon. They’ll be back in September. By then the budget has to be approved, and only after that the show can begin. Somewhere in October — November.

I’m pretty certain both Omtzigt and Yeşilgöz hope ‘something’ will happen that harms the PVV. Probably some mud can be spread about one or more ministers. The media are already working that way. Dick Schoof was interviewed, and repeated his answer for the press. That was actually a very nice gesture of him, to help the press. Normally the media wouldn’t show both versions, but now they did. Why? To make him look like a bumbler. Nothing serious, mind you. But it gives you an idea.

To finish up, this is the best we could get. Wilders is seen as a very shrewd and experienced politician, but so are the others, and they have stronger cards. See it like this: Wilders has 37% in the cabinet. NSC and VVD both have +20%. BBB has 10%. NSC and VVD can — and they bloody well will! — make life as hard as possible in the cabinet. As long as Omtzigt and Yeşilgöz hold hands, they can do a lot of damage. Make it look like the PVV is not capable of governing the country. That this behavior ruins the country — who cares?

I don’t think this cabinet will last long. It is quite unique: a kind of extra-parliamentarian cabinet without any need for it. Normally such a cabinet is formed during war, a national disaster or other severe crisis. Not because the elites don’t like the voting this time.

— H. Numan