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‘After locking ourselves away for a weekend, we learned a lot,’ Henri Bontenbal says in HJ Schoo lecture
🇳🇱 Netherlands /Elections & Politics

‘After locking ourselves away for a weekend, we learned a lot,’ Henri Bontenbal says in HJ Schoo lecture

From NRC Handelsblad · () Dutch

Translated from Dutch and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • CDA leader Henri Bontenbal delivered the annual HJ Schoo lecture in Amsterdam after coalition parties reached a late agreement on the 2027 budget.
  • The negotiations between D66, VVD and CDA delayed the budget timetable and were described by insiders as bitter and hard-fought.
  • Bontenbal used the speech to promote political restraint, courage and his vision of the CDA as a centrist party.

Henri Bontenbal nearly missed one of the Netherlands’ most closely watched political speeches because coalition negotiations ran into overtime. The CDA leader reached Amsterdam only after the parties struck a budget agreement late Monday afternoon and he finished writing his address shortly before the event.

The annual HJ Schoo lecture, organized by weekly magazine EW, is widely viewed as the unofficial opening of the parliamentary year. Parts of past speeches have entered Dutch political memory, including former D66 leader Sigrid Kaag’s 2021 criticism of Mark Rutte, whom she said had “managed and fiddled without a vision.”

managed and fiddled without a vision

— Sigrid KaagKaag used the phrase in her 2021 HJ Schoo lecture to criticize then caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

This year’s speech came after a difficult weekend for the minority government of Prime Minister Rob Jetten. D66, VVD and CDA had been expected to send the 2027 budget documents to the Council of State on Friday, but missed the deadline because they could not agree. Insiders described the talks to NRC as “bitter,” “hard” and “terrible.”

Political culture does not change within a few months, I don’t find that strange. Few things are as difficult as cultural change. It takes time, and we learn by doing it. And after locking ourselves away for a weekend, we learned a lot.

— Henri BontenbalBontenbal referred to the coalition’s difficult budget negotiations while discussing political culture in a minority government.

Bontenbal did not dwell on the dispute. Instead, he argued that a minority government could succeed only if both coalition and opposition parties adopted the behavior such a government requires. “Political culture does not change within a few months, I don’t find that strange,” he said. “Few things are as difficult as cultural change. It takes time, and we learn by doing it. And after locking ourselves away for a weekend, we learned a lot.”

The remark appeared to point toward the VVD, which had stood firmly against the CDA and D66 during the talks. Yet Bontenbal avoided an open attack, consistent with his call for “self-control and moderation in politics.” He also urged politicians to show courage by making necessary choices, even when those choices are unpopular. The speech repeated the CDA’s established aim under Bontenbal: rebuilding the party as a genuine force of the center.

self-control and moderation in politics

— Henri BontenbalBontenbal described moderation as a virtue that should guide political conduct.
About this summary

Originally published by NRC Handelsblad in Dutch. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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