CDA crushed: what the Dutch papers say

Although the final results came too late for the morning papers, they all headline on the hammering the Christian Democrats were given in Wednesday’s general election.


‘CDA crushed,’ screams the Telegraaf, above a photograph of outgoing prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende with his eyes closed and his lips clamped shut. It is a ‘dramatic end’ to eight years at the top, the paper says.
In its editorial, the Telegraaf stresses the difficulty of forming a new government, despite Rutte’s ambitions to have finalised a cabinet by July 1. Purple plus, with the VVD, Labour, D66 and GroenLinks is the only possible coalition which can count on a decent majority in parliament.
‘The Netherlands cannot allow itself a long cabinet formation period,’ the paper points out. ‘The economic crisis is still with us and important decisions need to be taken.’
‘Divided Netherlands’ is the headline on NRC Next’s front page story, accompanied by photos of the four main party leaders. ‘Never was the voters’ message so diffuse. It will be impossible to form a stable coalition from three parties,’ the paper says.
Trouw says the voter has saddled politicians with an impossible task, pointing out the opinion polls again failed to forecast the volume of support for the PVV. The party is now so big that it cannot be ignored in the early cabinet formation stages, when the parties get to know each other and the political horse trading begins.
The Volkskrant, with a photo of Mark Rutte smiling at his supporters on the front page, says the PVV and VVD have been rewarded for their clear political style and strong polarisation. But the collapse of the CDA has limited the coalition options considerably, the paper says.

Foreign papers

Under the headline Political earthquake in the Netherlands, the Belgian newspaper De Morgen says becoming the fourth party in Dutch politics is ‘an enormous humiliation’ for the departing Christian Democrat prime minister and party leader.
German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung says the Netherlands is tired of Balkenende. The prime minister was damaged, it says, because he hesitated on problems and took no important decisions.
The paper also says Wilders has ‘proved his ascendancy’ with the election result. It also says Labour leader Job Cohen was ‘passive and afraid of conflict’ during the campaign.
According to the centre-right Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the Netherlands is likely to get a right-wing government. It points out that Rutte has not ruled out a coalition with Wilders’ anti-Islam party and that the Christian Democrats could also agree to work with Wilders.
Arabic news service al-Jazeera doubts if other parties will want to govern with Wilders. ‘His polarising stance is not popular with other parties,’ it says.
In New Zealand, the Herald calls the gains of the right-wing Liberals a new victory for the right in Europe, following wins for David Cameron in Britain and Angela Merkel in Germany. According to the Herald, European voters reward parties that want to cut public spending and limit immigration.

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