Omtzigt firm: NSC won’t join a cabinet with the far right

NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt has told reporters he is prepared to support a right-wing cabinet made up of the PVV, VVD and BBB from the sidelines, if an agreement can be worked out which he can commit to.

However, Omtzigt said again after Wednesday’s coalition formation talks with Kim Putters, his party will not join a majority or a minority cabinet as a partner if it involves the far-right PVV.

He did not go into details about which conditions he would require to support a cabinet including the PVV. “This is all I am prepared to say, and I have thought long and hard about it,” he told reporters. 

Earlier in the day PVV leader Geert Wilders said it is clear that some form of “extra-parliamentary” cabinet, with experts rather than party members as ministers, could not count on the support of the other parties. This was Omtzigt’s preferred option.

Replacing the NSC with other Christian parties is not an option either. The CDA has also reiterated that it will not take part in any form of cabinet with the PVV and the fundamentalist Protestant SGP is unwilling to take part in “exotic experiments”, the Volkskrant said. 

The VVD is known not to be keen on the NSC and Omtzigt as a “silent partner” supporting a minority coalition, having said earlier it would like to take on that role itself. 

VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz will meet Putters for more talks on Thursday morning.