Ronald Plasterk — © BELGAIMAGE
PVV nominates former PvdA minister Ronald Plasterk as the new scout. Earlier today, PVV senator Gom van Strien had resigned from his position as scout.
Monday, November 27, 2023 at 5:14 PM
Ronald Plasterk, former Dutch minister on behalf of the PvdA, is nominated by the PVV as a new scout.
The PVV is expected to nominate Plasterk on Tuesday. A meeting is also planned that morning between the intended party chairmen and House Speaker Vera Bergkamp. Later Tuesday, Bergkamp Plasterk will hand over his assignment.
Plasterk (66) was Minister of Education between 2007 and 2010. In the second Rutte government he was also minister of the Interior. It is remarkable that the PVV nominates a PvdA celebrity, but Plasterk has recently made himself very popular with many right-wing politicians and opinion makers.
In his Telegraaf column, the former minister opposes many left-wing themes. He is critical of climate and nature policy and the excuses for the history of slavery. He has also specifically opened the attack on political parties, including D66. Moreover, Plasterk is an outspoken opponent of further cooperation between GroenLinks and PvdA.
Although the elections were held less than a week ago, Plasterk is already the second scout. Gom van Strien never got around to his work. The PVV senator was expected to start talks with the proposed faction leaders of the largest parties on Monday. However, last weekend NRC reported on a report of fraud against Van Strien. He then resigned from his duties in consultation with PVV leader Wilders.
Wilders said that things did not go well when Van Strien was appointed. He did not mention Plasterk’s name on Monday, but Wilders did say that the new scout would have more distance from politics than the Senate member from his own party. van Strien was nominated as a scout by Geert Wilders’ PVV, after the victory of the far-right party in the elections in the Netherlands, but the man is now resigning immediately. He is associated with fraud at his former employer, the University of Utrecht, which has filed a report against him. The NRC newspaper wrote this based on documents that it had access to.