In the flurry of activity following the June general election, the Christian Democrats were an appropriate model of modesty, writes Robin Pascoe.

The CDA was hammered in June, seeing its support almost half to just 21 MPs, prompting both the party leader and chairman to resign.
And acting leader Maxime Verhagen was quick to say that the party needed time to lick its wounds and come to terms with its defeat. And that meant it would take a back seat in subsequent coalition negotiations, he said.
Although combination of VVD Liberals, anti-Islam PVV and CDA was the first obvious coalition choice, Verhagen was adamant. The CDA did not merit a place in a new government.

Three months
Nearly three months on and the CDA is tearing itself apart after Verhagen decided it was okay after all to join talks on forming an alliance with Geert Wilders’ PVV.
To get round objections to the PVV’s stance on Islam, the three parties agreed to ‘respect’ each others’ positions.
But that was not good enough for a vociferous body of former ministers and other elder statesman who have been snapping at Verhagen’s heels telling him to pull out.

Discipline
They’ve given newspaper and tv interviews and signed petitions, betraying a remarkable lack of party discipline and causing acting chairman Henk Bleker to urge them to shut up.
But now it seems even Verhagen’s own number two at the negotiating table Ab Klink wants to call a halt.
And, insiders say, a small number of MPs are also threatening to leave the party if the talks continue – which would mean any VVD CDA PVV coalition would not have a majority in parliament anyway and making the entire exercise a waste of time.
Damage
Even if the ongoing crisis talks within the CDA end up with a consensus that the talks should continue, the damage has already been done. Support for an alliance with Wilders has been shown to be extremely fragile, which is hardly conducive to stable government.
Several MPs have serious doubts and could step outside the party at any moment. Former prime ministers such as Ruud Lubbers will continue to gather newspaper headlines with their opposition.
Wilders has made it quite clear that he will continue to speak his mind about Islam – whatever the CDA thinks about it. And that means the CDA’s ‘acceptance’ of Wilders and his role in government will be called into question every time he makes a statement.