20 March 2007. Judith Sargentini, Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa
 
Since February 2007, the Netherlands has a new Government. It comprises the Christian Democrats (CDA) and Labour (PvdA) but also the Christian Union (CU), a small orthodox Protestant party, that has never been in government before now. The government is headed by Jan Peter Balkenende (CDA) who has broken all records by forming his fourth government in five years.

The coalition represents a drastic change from the former government, consisting of the CDA, ‘conservative liberals’ (VVD) and ‘social liberals’ (D66). Dutch citizens appear partly relieved by this political change. The last coalition was widely unpopular due to its right-wing economic policies, while the debate on migration and the integration of Muslims into Dutch society proved divisive for the entire country. Although such tensions persist, the government has adopted the slogan ‘Working Together, Living Together’ in order to address the widespread public dissatisfaction with the state of the country.

Two new ministers and a secretary of state dealing with international affairs have come to the stage (unlike in Britain, the Dutch system confers greater seniority on a minister than a secretary of state). The new Minister for Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen replaces Ben Bot (both CDA).

Bot, a septuagenarian former diplomat was popular as a minister. Instead of being reappointed, he was bypassed in favour of Verhagen, who as the former parliamentary group leader of the CDA and part of their negotiation team, had first pick when it came to the division of jobs. Verhagen is a former MEP and in that role was a spokesman on development and a vice-chairman of the joint parliamentary assembly between the EU and the African, Carribean and Pacific bloc. During his last four years as CDA leader in the national parliament, he has been very silent on international affairs. One of the few global questions that he was prepared to address was why The Netherlands supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new Minister for Development is Bert Koenders (PvdA), who had commanded much respect as an MP and a spokesperson on defence, foreign affairs and development. He has been active in all sorts of highbrow fora on democracy in the world and has been chairman of the Netherlands Institute for Multi-Party Democracy (NIMD). Koenders is known for his clear statements and non-governmental organisations dealing with development issues have long hoped that he would become a foreign or development minister.

Frans Timmermans (PvdA) is the new state-secretary for European affairs. He has an impressive international career. He has been an MP for 10 years and before that worked in the directorate-general for development at the ministry of foreign affairs, for the former European commissioner Hans Van den Broek and as the personal secretary to Max van der Stoel, the former high commissioner of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Timmermans is a passionate advocate of deeper European integration, who was openly in favour of the EU constitution and is now trying to find ways to get the country to abandon its scepticism towards the Union.

The government’s programme 'Working Together, Living Together' has six chapters, with the first one dealing with international affairs. This symbolic gesture indicates that the new cabinet will give such issues a more central role than the previous one did. It remains to be seen if this will turn out to be true.

The Netherlands is one of the few countries to exceed the UN’s target of allocating at least 0.7% of gross national income to official development assistance (ODA). At present, the Dutch government allocates 0.8% of national income to ODA. In addition to that, the new programme promises €200 million per year to sustainable energy in poor countries.

It says, too, that there needs to be more attention paid to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals in order to actually reach them, as well as an intensified European effort to give those countries designated as least developed a greater voice in the World Trade Organisation.

Whereas a former minister Agnes Van Ardenne had argued that the eligibility criteria for ODA set by the development assistance committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development should be widened to allow expenditure on the military, no such proposal is contained in the programme. One could cautiously conclude that the Netherlands will no longer strive for ODA to be polluted in that way.

The PvdA, through its spokesman Koenders, has been severely critical of Dutch support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Labour negotiators pushed for a government investigation into why The Netherlands joined the ‘coalition of the willing’ but they were unsuccessful. The CDA, with Balkenende and Verhagen at the lead, strongly opposed Labour’s call.

Nonetheless, the new government has stated that a mandate under international law will be needed before Dutch troops will be sent abroad in the future. That must be seen as a clear response to the way the former government acted.

In the past, Koenders has been in favour of sending more troops to take part in peace missions in Africa.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the only conflict specifically mentioned in the programme.

Historically, the Netherlands has been pro-Israel.  The PvdA has connections with the Palestinians but the two Christian parties in the government tend to lean towards Israel, with Orthodox Christians active for many years in helping develop that country.

Human rights are not mentioned in the programme but seem to have risen in importance. In his first few weeks in office Verhagen addressed the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, stating that he intends “to raise the human rights profile of the Netherlands further in the years ahead”, praising human rights defenders such as Aung San Suu Kyi and quoting Arnold Tsunga, a well-known Zimbabwean lawyer.

The content of the quote is less significant than the fact that the minister decided to quote a Zimbabwean¹.  In a committee meeting at the Dutch Parliament, Verhagen said that plans to hold a summit between EU and African leaders in Lisbon later this year do not alter the Dutch view that Robert Mugabe, the autocratic Zimbabwean president, should not be invited to that event².  Koenders has made similar remarks. The kind of strong language used by the two men has not been heard from the desks of the ministry of foreign affairs for a long time.

According to its programme, the new government “strives to change the standing treaties of the EU in a way that ensures subsidiarity and democratic control and ensures that these treaties clearly differ in content, substance and title from the previously rejected constitution.” That carefully composed sentence nips in the bud any hope that the new government will take a more pro-European approach than the previous one.

As state-secretary, Frans Timmermans must have had a personal struggle before accepting a post, where he will have to convey this key message.

Furthermore, the new programme says that national parliaments should have a greater say over Europe, the principle of ‘subsidiarity’ is crucial and that the EU’s new member states should first be fully integrated into the Union before other countries can join.

The programme also recommends that the EU should develop a ‘partnership’ with countries on the waiting list for membership. The former minister of foreign affairs Bot was slightly positive towards Turkey’s ambition of joining the EU. Verhagen, however, is on record as being sceptical on that matter.

Because Turkey is a largely Muslim country, the debate about its EU goals has become mixed with the internal debate on migration and integration.

In conclusion, the foreign affairs team in the new government can have considerable clout. It is made up of widely appreciated politicians that know their portfolio. On development, human rights and military missions this government seems to be more on our side than the last one was. However, the prospect of the Netherlands accepting deeper European integration seems to remain on hold.

¹ Minister Verhagen, statement at the fourth session of the Human Rights Council. March 12, 2007 http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/speeches,2007/03/Statement-at-the-fourth-session-of-the-Human-Right.html
² Tweede Kamer, 48th session, Wednesday 14 march 2007