The right-wing liberal VVD must return to its roots and stop kowtowing to populist feeling or it will be decimated come the next elections, warn Mauk Bresser, chairman of the party’s youth wing JOVD and its national spokesman Chris Kloosterman.

The VVD has been part of the new cabinet for a while now and was a coalition partner in the 14 years that preceded it. Over the years, successive compromises have eroded the party’s liberal credentials, putting its very raison d’être at stake.

Optimism is one of the liberal virtues but it has been sorely missing since November 2023. Campagnes titled “Act. Normal” and “On your side” are patently populist, only whose side and why the VVD? We have no idea.

Political brinkmanship

Since the (lost) elections the party has had more than one opportunity to show its mettle. The JOVD thinks that now is the time for the party to show its true liberal VVD colours, forward-looking and with an eye on the big picture.

The VVD of today has lost its bearings and is wandering aimlessly through the desert. The parliamentary party is flouting the rule of law and focusing on national culture and integration instead of the economy and national security.

The emergency meeting party leader Dilan Yesilgöz organised with local VVD members in Amsterdam following the Maccabi riots was well-intentioned but also showed where the party’s priorities lie. Based on populism, political brinkmanship and the desire to remain in power, these choices can no longer be justified.

Culture and integration are part of the liberal agenda but they must be underpinned by fact. Liberals stand for freedom, responsibility and tolerance and focus on choice and having a bit more left over at the end of the month. Ideological integrity rather than populism must once again be the political lodestone.

Tax

After 14 years of the VVD we are living in a country where it doesn’t pay to work and where income from wealth is hardly taxed. The victory of the PVV, which is still leading the polls more than a year into the new government, means that once again the next generation will have to foot the bill. It’s a generation which will have to continue to work to earn a heavily taxed income in an increasingly unsafe world, with policies that will do little to help them.

As a liberal party, the VVD can create order in this chaos by reducing income tax, increasing wealth tax and upping investment in our national security. This is what we expect from liberals, not the endless and distracting discussions about national culture.

Decimated

The freedom fought for by liberals is not guaranteed, even in this country. The PVV and BBB, which are still calling for an end to the support to Ukraine and dragging their feet over serious climate measures, are proof of this, as well as BBB MP Henk Vermeer’s anger over Ukraine’s grain transports to Syria to prevent a famine there.

The VVD must draw a line here and stand up for the freedoms that have been achieved in the last decades. To be a liberal is to contribute to democracy and freedom in Europe, and to make sure the next generations enjoy the same freedoms we enjoy today.

This cabinet is favouring a different kind of politics, the kind that rewards those whose shouts about all that is wrong in this country sound the loudest. If the VVD doesn’t show what it stands for it will be decimated in the next elections.

So explain what is liberal about condoning the rot. Or why it is liberal to vote for or against the law to spread migrants. To keep quiet under the guise of responsibility is to condone the rot which is undermining the pillars of our future.

This opinion piece appeared earlier in the Volkskrant