Dutch on brink of electing first feminine chief – POLITICO

THE HAGUE — Dutch voters could also be about to get somebody very totally different from the outgoing veteran prime minister Mark Rutte. 

A former refugee, Dilan Yeşilgöz, who succeeded Rutte as chief of the VVD get together, is now main the polls forward of Wednesday’s vote and will change into the primary feminine prime minister in Dutch historical past. 

The competition is on a knife-edge, with three events vying to win probably the most seats, however her nearest rival, Pieter Omtzigt has signalled he could not need the highest job for himself. 

That makes it even likelier that Yeşilgöz, the nation’s justice minister, will change into premier on the head of the subsequent authorities. 

Learn extra: Easy methods to watch the Dutch elections like a professional – POLITICO

A self-confessed workaholic, Yeşilgöz is media savvy and doesn’t speak a lot about being a girl in politics. She is invariably good humored and stuffed with power in public, regardless of what she says are “robust” calls for of her present job. Her liberal-conservative Folks’s Occasion for Freedom and Democracy is now in joint first place with 18 factors in POLITICO’s Ballot of Polls, after she took over from Rutte as its chief. 

Her platform has been a promise to crack down on migration, a problem that has lengthy dogged Dutch politics. 

However Yeşilgöz advised POLITICO it’s her personal background as a refugee that has formed her view on migration. 

“There’s an inflow of too many individuals, not solely asylum seekers but in addition migrant employees and worldwide college students, which signifies that we don’t have the capability to assist actual refugees,” Yeşilgöz stated. She listed issues within the system, together with poor high quality reception services for asylum seekers and housing shortages as obstacles. 

But Yeşilgöz has a mountain forward of her to achieve the election. 

If the VVD wins, it could be distinctive. There are hardly any examples of governing events that, throughout a change in management, nonetheless stay the biggest. 

But the most recent POLITICO Ballot of Polls reveals that VVD is neck and neck with centrist outsider Omtzigt’s new get together, New Social Contract. The green-left alliance of Frans Timmermans can be in with an opportunity, on 15 p.c. 

As justice minister within the present caretaker authorities, she has been described as a tricky negotiator and a powerful communicator, who solely does three issues in addition to work: sleep, train and consuming healthily. 

However whereas Rutte has all the time been very personal about his private life, Yeşilgöz has been way more open, speaking frankly about her marriage, her battles with an immune situation and her hesitation about having youngsters.

Additionally in contrast to Rutte, who was typically noticed biking to appointments, Yeşilgöz is pushed in all places and must be closely protected by a private safety element as a consequence of her place as a justice minister. “It’s a massive a part of my life and that’s very robust. However I select to maintain going, to not give up, as a result of I can’t be intimidated,” she stated. 

The more and more violent and coarse nature of public discourse within the Netherlands is a rising subject in Dutch politics. Outgoing finance minister Sigrid Kaag introduced earlier that she was leaving politics amid considerations over her security. 

Honest and strict 

Brussels can be conserving an in depth eye on the upcoming election. The Netherlands has positioned itself below the management of Rutte as a dependable and dominant associate within the EU. However officers in embassies and establishments in Brussels now surprise if the subsequent authorities will keep such a constructive position after the November 22 vote.  

It’s a transparent “sure” from Yeşilgöz, if she finally ends up as premier. “As a small nation, we will play an enormous position. Now we have all the time performed that, and it’s extremely vital that we’ll preserve doing that,” she stated. 

Taking part in strict and and enjoying honest would be the fundamental pillars that underpin her strategy to the EU, stated Yeşilgöz. That features no tinkering with the factors when new international locations need to change into an EU member — a debate that’s already heating up in mild of Ukraine’s software to affix the 27-country bloc.  

Historically, the Dutch have been hawks-in-chief on EU fiscal coverage, criticizing massive spenders and demanding a discount in debt ranges. However in more moderen instances, the Dutch authorities has favored flexibility, inside cause.

“Simply being very strict and never trying on the context in any respect, I’m exaggerating a bit, that’s not going to be our line,” Yeşilgöz stated. “However being very versatile and really making issues much less clear and extra advanced shouldn’t be our line both. Europe should be a secure cooperation, and clear monetary agreements are essential to this finish.”

Publish-Rutte

Though the VVD is main within the polls, the race is much from performed. 

The primary problem for Yeşilgöz through the marketing campaign has been to persuade voters that she desires renewal regardless of her get together being in energy for greater than a decade. 

The previous 13 years lots of issues have been going properly, she stated, pointing to the truth that The Netherlands weathered the financial disaster and coronavirus pandemics comparatively safely.

“On the similar time, once you zoom in and see that many individuals with regular jobs and incomes lie awake at evening due to their payments … so I can’t say that issues are going properly for everybody,” she stated. 

“On prime of that there have been previously years some blind spots,” she stated. These included the poor dealing with of compensation claims in relation to earthquake harm in Groningen and a childcare advantages fiasco by which hundreds of individuals, typically dual-nationals, have been incorrectly labeled fraudsters. “It’s evident that we now have discovered from that and wish to forestall new blind spots from showing.”

And what of her former lader, Rutte? He was noticed in Brussels earlier this month on a go to to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, after hinting he wish to take over the place on the prime of the army alliance himself. 

Requested whether or not Rutte was gunning to steer NATO, Yeşilgöz laughed.“Wherever he finally ends up, that group could be very fortunate to have him,” she stated.