Crisis in Dutch cabinet formation over Iraq
The Labour Party said that the Netherlands should not give ‘political support’ to the Americans. (Photo: EUobserver.com) EUOBSERVER / AMSTERDAM - The risk that the formation of a new centre-left coalition in the Netherlands will collapse over the war on Iraq has increased substantially. In an intense parliamentary debate last night, a sharp clash of opinions took place between the Labour Party (PvdA) and the Christian Democrats (CDA), who are currently negotiating the formation of a new government.
The Labour Party leader, Mr Bos, said that the Netherlands should not give ‘political support’ to the Americans. The PvdA will probably take part in a peace demonstration in Amsterdam on Saturday.
The parliamentary leader of the CDA, Maxime Verhagen, described the position of the PvdA as ‘sad’. The position of Prime Minister Balkenende’s outgoing centre-right cabinet, which has affirmed its ‘political’ but not military support for a US-led Iraq war, is generally regarded as a concession to the PvdA. This concession was necessary if Dutch policy on Iraq was to be consistent after a centre-left Cabinet assumed power.
Building government more difficult However, now the PvdA seems to be sticking to its total rejection of a war on Iraq. This makes a CDA-PvdA coalition, thought to be the only stable combination of parties that has a majority in parliament, increasingly difficult.
The cabinet’s distinction between ‘political’ and ‘military’ support was sharply critisised by both right-wing and left-wing parties as ‘hypocrital’ and ‘cowardly’. The leader of the List Pim Fortuyn (LPF) said that Holland would leave its most important ally, the United States, isolated by refusing military support. According to Femke Halsema, of the Greens (GroenLinks), the Dutch were contributing to the violation of international law by giving its political support to the US.
Dutch Patriot missiles sent to Turkey The distinction between ‘political’ and ‘military’ support is even more remarkable given the fact that Holland is on the list of 30 states who will back the US in its war against Iraq, released by the US State Department on Tuesday.
The Dutch have already sent Patriot missiles to Turkey. Among the 30 states who form part of the ‘coalition of the willing’ are four other EU member states: Denmark, Italy, Spain and the UK. All these other EU member states have offered some form of active military support.
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Written by Mark Beunderman Edited by Honor Mahony