There is yet another reason - besides the strategic domestic game - why the VVD does not want to enter a coalition with the PVV. So says Kysia Hester, NOS EU correspondent. In Europe, Mark Rutte has been told that if his party goes into government with the PVV, he can forget about that brilliant international position he aspires to.
"I've already spoken to several people who make the link," already Hekster, "who say if the VVD will indeed get into a cabinet with Geert Wilders, then that will really start to put [Mark Ruttes] position, for which he would be a favorite now, as NATO's top man on in the European Commission, really on the line."
"So," she continued on the radio, "in that respect, for Rutte too, for his future there is really something at stake here as well." That there is also something at stake for the Netherlands is obviously much less important in his eyes.
This story is also told by journalist Kees Boonman. Who stopped by NPO Radio 1 yesterday. There he told factually the same thing.
"If you take a look at Mark Rutte, outgoing prime minister," said Boonman. "Thirteen years of track record. From critical European to a leading and directing and sometimes a bit sulky, but cooperative European. I can't imagine that Rutte wants to [leave] a legacy that this country suddenly goes out a short as the PVV has in its election manifesto. I can't imagine that."
And that's not the only thing, Boonman said. "I can't imagine it either, because Rutte is a candidate for top positions in the European Union and at NATO." When asked if that "could have consequences," Boonman replied, "In my opinion it does."
So Hekster agreed, saying she has spoken to several people in Brussels who make this link directly.
In other words: Rutte and his VVD want to give Dutch democracy a leg up to get him a top job AND not Dutch people, but European bureaucrats determine who in our country is allowed to form a coalition with each other. What on earth is this?