Minister Schouten finds cooperation with PVV in Flevoland ‘uncomfortable’

ANPCarola Schouten and Piet Adema during a party congress of the Christian Union in 2022

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Broadcasting Flevoland

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 18:27

Minister Carola Schouten finds it “uncomfortable” that her party, the ChristenUnie in Flevoland, will cooperate with the PVV. “But it is a choice they can make themselves,” Schouten told the ANP this afternoon prior to the cabinet meeting.

It is not the first time that the national CU has spoken out about this coalition. The CU party chairman called the proposal for a coalition with the PVV “not credible” in April, Omroep Flevoland reports.

‘Different views on cooperation with PVV’

Now minister Schouten and fellow party member and minister of agriculture Piet Adema also have their concerns. For example, Adema says he was surprised by the choice. “I don’t think the PVV is a natural cooperation partner.” Yet, like Schouten, he believes that his party members are free to make that choice.

According to Schouten, many CU members have expressed their dissatisfaction with the cooperation that their party members in Flevoland are entering into with the PVV. Members would therefore like to cancel their membership. “That indicates that there are different ideas about cooperation with the PVV,” says Schouten.

Schouten emphasizes that the party has indicated that it cooperates “with parties that respect the rule of law” and with parties that believe that there is room for all people in the Netherlands. According to Schouten, this is the line of the party board, “and I agree very well with that”.

“As a national board, we see that the position of the PVV on fundamental topics such as religious freedom and the importance of the rule of law is at odds with our principles and beliefs,” said CU chairman Ankie van Tatenhove earlier this week. “That is why we have said before that participation in a coalition with the PVV is not credible.”

Coalition agreement details announced

The coalition in Flevoland will present its plans in the provincial house tonight, but Omroep Flevoland has broadly described what the plans of the five parties are for the coming years.

According to the regional broadcaster, the foreword expressly states that all Flevolanders “have the right, within the boundaries of our constitutional state and in accordance with Article 1 of the Constitution, to be who they are and to believe what they believe and do not believe.”

According to Omroep Flevoland, this sentence almost certainly stems from the talks that the ChristenUnie and PVV had at an early stage of the formation.

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