FLeur Agema, the PVV’s number two, has undergone a remarkable transformation since taking over as cabinet minister. In terms of word choice, political considerations and debating style, there is a completely new politician, as was clear in the House of Representatives last week. What is most special is the enthusiasm that Minister Agema himself shows for this transformation.
From a tough opposition leader, the PVV politician has become a pragmatic administrator. Agema makes no secrets about why this is happening. Today he attaches more importance to what the top officials in the Ministry of Health provide him with. “Those are the experts.” This leads to positions that were previously a curse for the PVV: a ban on profit-sharing in the health sector is no longer necessary. On closer inspection, keeping all regional hospitals open with a full emergency service (a prior demand of the PVV) is “complicated.”
The switch has been turned
In a cheerful, almost cheerful manner, he said in a parliamentary debate that the switch had been flipped: “I have learned a lot in the last eight weeks.” And: “It wouldn’t be worth a wink if I went into the ministry and remained an unchanged person.” He also praises senior officials in interviews.
What does it say about the PVV that the number two is taking this path? In itself it is not illogical for a minister to present a different story than the previous position in the opposition. The Netherlands is a country of coalitions. Every minister, including Agema, must communicate the compromises reached in the coalition.
She looks like a D66 minister.
Suddenly, the PVV minister’s positions are very close to those of the VVD. Or D66. The D66 faction is already praising Agema for looking like a D66 minister. For the old Agema, that would be the ultimate reproach; the new Agema gratefully accepts it. “What my predecessors in D66 wanted, I also want,” he says.
Perhaps what we see here is that the PVV finds it difficult to call anything a compromise. It would then be better to make a radical conversion immediately. Agema brushes off the criticism of the left-wing opposition quite easily. According to her, there is no “turn”, only a better perception. The PVV’s old course still seems valid only when it comes to supplying vaccines to African countries. Against the advice of experts, the minister does not want to send vaccines because they must remain in the Netherlands.
All cards go to the nursing home.
It also says something about the PVV’s priorities. Once in the cabinet, the party is apparently willing to be pragmatic on almost everything, as long as there is the strictest asylum policy ever seen. Care was the PVV’s second most important election issue, but it is easily dropped. Apparently with the approval of Wilders, who hounds the cabinet about everything but healthcare.
All the cards are focused on asylum, the PVV’s first and only issue. The PVV hopes to win the main prize there in the next government programme. Making slightly fewer demands on care gives the party room to demand tough policies for asylum seekers. And who is the PVV’s deputy prime minister in the cabinet, involved in all these negotiations? That’s Fleur Agema, their other new post. The real test of whether the PVV will listen more to the experts is imminent.
Political reporter Wilma Kieskamp writes a biweekly column on politics in The Hague. Read her previous columns here.
