|
Or why, weeks after the election, the losers are still in power Coalition-forming proceeds according to fairly clear rules, even if these are often unwritten. The Queen invites each party leader in turn to give his or her advice, beginning with the largest - this time current premier (known as the 'Minister-President') Jan Peter Balkenende, and ending with the smallest. She then invites a generally respected former politician to act as 'informateur'. The informateur then talks to leaders of the parties which he feels might play a role in a new government and invites them to talk to each other. He is more-or-less obliged to include the biggest parties, and any which did spectacularly well, and they in turn are more-or-less obliged to have a fair shot at ironing out their differences. This is why, though it may seem bizarre to British readers, SP leader Jan Marijnissen, whose party has spent the last four years solidly campaigning against almost every one of Mr Balkenende's government's policies, had to sit down with the premier and see whether they might nevertheless be able to pull off a Dutch version of the 'historic compromise'. Not surprisingly, this proved impossible, though in the Netherlands nothing is ruled out until a new set of ministers is sitting around a table in The Hague and getting down to business. CDA and Labour are now in talks with the Christian Union, and although a number of obstacles remain, the signs are that these could well end in success, leaving the SP as the biggest opposition party. |
SPECTREZINE
Homepage
Weblog
Spectremail
Contact
LATEST
FEATURES
The
Last War of the 20th Century - Part Eleven - by Jan Marijnissen and Karel
Glastra van Loon
The
End of Democracy - by Steve McGiffen
Gene
seeks Farmer - by Kartika Liotard MEP
EU-India
Free Trade Talks: In Whose Interest? by Christa Wichterich
Water
Thieves - by Steve McGiffen
Global
security: too vital an issue to be left to NATO and the Right - by Tiny
Kox
Flexicurity,
false promises, and the EU's renamed Constitution
LATEST
NEWS FROM
THE WEBLOG
Weblog-
Homepage
Macedonia and EU membership
Turbulent times for Eurozone
Left Euro-MPs Attack
Turkish condemnation of Human Rights Campaigner
France Breached Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty
“The hope for the reunification
of Cyprus is back”
Call of La Via Campesina
for April 17th, International Day of Peasant Struggle
CATEGORIES
Africa
Book Reviews
Corporate Crime
Current Issues
Economy and Society
East Asia
Editorial
Environment
Europe
Global Resistance
Latin America/Caribbean
Middle East
North America
Progressive Press
War
ARCHIVES
News
Review 2001-04
Features
2001
Features 2002
Features 2003-04
