Prime minister Mark Rutte faces a difficult first debate in parliament on Tuesday, with both Geert Wilders and Labour leader Job Cohen pledging to question him about his position on dual nationality.

Cohen says in an interview with Monday’s Volkskrant that Rutte should apologise to Labour MP Nebahat Albayrak who came under heavy pressure from the VVD leader to give up her Turkish nationality when she became a minister in the last government.
But Rutte said last week he did not see any problems with junior health minister Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten holding Dutch and Swedish nationality.
Debate
PVV leader Geert Wilders, by contrast, said he will raise Veldhuijzen van Zanten’s position during Tuesday’s debate, in the first test of his support for the new coalition.
The coalition agreement includes a pledge to phase out dual nationality.
Cohen also criticised the influence of the PVV on the new government’s strategy plans, in particular the hard line on immigration.

Exclusion
‘What it in fact says is ‘we don’t really want the Muslims, we can do without them’,’ Cohen told the AD. ‘You are threatening to exclude a complete population group. The VVD and CDA have let themselves be drawn along by Wilders.’
The new government should not assume that the PvdA will help it by supporting policies which Wilders does not back and will not vote in favour of, Cohen said. ‘I will want something in return,’ the Labour leader said.

Benefits
Researchers at Amsterdam’s VU University say the Christian Democrats and PVV have benefited most from the new coalition agreement.
The CDA, which is the smallest party in the coalition, scored best in terms of ensuring its manifesto for the June 9th election most resembles the coalition agreement.
However, the anti-Islam PVV did best in terms of direct policy issues, researcher André Krouwel said. ‘If you look at what Geert Wilders has achieved… it is gigantic. On paper at least, he has won,’ Krouwel said.

Targets
The Liberal democratic party D66 on Monday called on the new government to set targets for 10 major policy areas so its performance can be rated.
For example, the new government wants to ensure there are 3,000 extra police officers, 12,000 extra healthcare workers, 50% fewer immigrants and fewer politicians, D66 leader Alexander Pechtold told a breakfast tv show.
Parliament should keep a close eye on whether these and other targets are met, Pechtold said.