Foto: Reuters

With the cabinet in disarray following the presentation of the Davids report on Iraq and premier Balkenende’s lacklustre response yesterday, the Dutch parliament has called for an emergency debate this evening to assess the current state of play. D 66 leader Alexander Pechtold called for the debate because of the political chasm that is opening up at the centre of the ruling cabinet, between the Christian Democrats and Labour, or more precisely between premier Balkenende and Minister of Finance Bos. Pechtold duly received support from the whole of the chamber for this initiative.

A cabinet meeting this morning between Balkenende, Bos, and coalition partner Andre Rouvoet of the Christen Unie did not resolve anything. The question is whether the premier is going to answer Labour’s demand that he give more than a nod to the criticisms that Davids outlined with regard to Iraq: lack of leadership, insufficient informing of parliament, and no legal grounds for the invasion under international law. Balkenende is renowned as a principled politician who does not go in for nuance – things are either right or wrong, good or bad. It would be a very bitter pill for him to swallow, having claimed all along that there was no basis for assuming any wrongdoing on his part or on the part of the government in 2002-2003, if he now has to acknowledge that there was.

Labour know this and want to hear it loud and clear. There is a heavy dose of sangfroid at work here. Labour are at their lowest point for years and years in the opinion surveys, so any election in the short-term is hardly going to do them any favours. Yet one gets the impression that bringing an end to the successive Balkenende cabinets (he’s been in power consistently since 2002) would somehow bring a smile to the party’s parliamentary rank and file, even if it would mean suicide at the polls. Iraq does not seem to grip the Dutch public as much as it has, slowly but surely, got a grip on the Dutch parliament over the last two-three years, and it has been rumbling around the Dutch tv and print media since the events themselves. So it hardly would be a vote-getter – most punters favour easing the country out of recession and somehow coping with the impending massacre of public spending due to the hole in public finances left by major bank bail-outs.

But will Balkenende walk before Labour push him? Its a possibility. Although he denied it, he certainly seems to have wanted the EU Council Presidency that went to van Rompuy instead. And after eight years at the helm of what has been, to say the least, a rough time in Dutch politics and society (with rougher politics to come, one imagines), it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he brought the curtain down himself.

So who will benefit most? Pechtold’s D 66, for leading the way in demanding parliamentary propriety? Or Geert Wilders’ PVV, by simply biding their time, recognising that there’s no real public outcry, and waiting for the collapse?