Opposition leader Job Cohen doesn’t consider himself to be ‘the great facilitator’ of this cabinet. ‘Opposition for opposition’s sake would not do our party, or the country any good’, he says in an interview in the Volkskrant.

On Monday, one day ahead of budget day, many organisations will be gathering in The Hague to protest against the ‘social demolition’ of the country. Cohen says he sympathises with the demonstrators but voted in favour of the pension plan nevertheless.
Cabinet not up to reforms
Pension reform was necessary, Cohen says, and formed part of a number of reforms the PvdA thinks must be implemented, among them a housing market overhaul which Mark Rutte has been putting off.
Cohen doesn’t think the cabinet with its silent partner Wilders is up to making any important reforms. The pension plan needed the approval of the PvdA or it wouldn’t have happened, Cohen says. ‘We have achieved a better pension plan for people on low incomes who have worked long years and who want to retire before the age of 65. They won’t have to give up much. People who lose their jobs at 61 for example will not have to live of the proceeds of the sale of their house but will be helped to bridge the gap.’
Crumbs
Cohen responds indignantly to Geert Wilder’s taunt that the PvdA has left the public with mere ‘crumbs’. ‘How dare he say that! Every one of our conditions was met through talks with minister Kamp and the prime minister. That’s why I hope the FNV will approve the plan. And Wilders talks of crumbs? What has he done for Henk and Ingrid? Nothing at all’.
The title of ‘the great facilitator’ – Cohen also supports the cabinet’s policy on Europe – is not one he relishes. He wants to see the back of the cabinet sooner rather than later but ‘If we had pulled the plug on the pension the cabinet would still be there and would have reverted to the government accord.’ The euro crisis, says Cohen, goes beyond supporting the cabinet or not supporting it. ‘We have to do what is good for the country’.
Jobs
Cohen does support Monday’s march. ‘Implementing one cutback after another, all aimed at the same vulnerable group touches at the heart of our society. And it’s not just people who are poor or needy. There are plenty of middle class people who want to do their bit, only they need a bit of help, a personal health care budget which will enable them to work, or in the case of young disabled people the Wajong benefit system.’
When asked how he would tackle spending cuts, Cohen says he would reform both the housing and the labour market. ‘Those reforms are long overdue. Our shadow budget also includes the creation of ten thousand jobs for older people who have been unemployed for a year. Employers would get €7,500 for each person they take on.’