Citizens of Italy and Europe, who a few weeks ago rejoiced at the news of the nomination of Frans Timmermans, European Commissioner, father of the Green Deal, in the Dutch elections on November 22 should change their minds (for now). The reason for the general jubilation is easy to understand: if Timmermans is elected in the Netherlands, he will have to leave Brussels along with the ideological environmental policy pursued in recent years. Initial enthusiasm had already begun to waver at the sight that, if he won, he would have the right to sit on the European Council with the heads of member states, being able to continue to influence Community policy from there. . However, the latest news coming from The Hague is incredible. According to the Dutch newspaper De Telgraaf, Timmermans will campaign at the head of a left-wing coalition with the new left-wing Labor Party (PvdA) and the Greens (GL) in the upcoming elections in the Netherlands at the expense of European taxpayers. After his early departure from the post of European Commissioner, he will effectively benefit from the compensation provided by the European Union, since, as an outgoing EU Commissioner, he is entitled to another two years of “transitional compensation” in the amount of 40 to 65% of his salary (about 319,000 euros per year) .
The news angered Dutch politicians, starting with Freedom Party president Geert Wilders, with Dutch journalist Eva Vlaardingerbroek tweeting: “An EU climate dad who is running for Dutch prime minister is entitled to a two-year transitional allowance from Brussels. While he is participating in the election campaign. And who pays for it? Accurate! We! Rogues that Timmermans would like to lock up in cities where we could do it all in fifteen minutes while we chew crickets and make sacrifices to the weather gods.
“This situation is simply unacceptable,” said Dutch TV presenter Rutger Castricum on the popular talk show Vandaag Inside. “It’s incomprehensible. As far as I understand, this is indeed the first big mistake of PvdA-GroenLinks” (a new party led by a former European Commissioner). According to a recent poll, the leftist alliance is well ahead of its opponents, but as Nasreddin Taibi, correspondent for Europe Elects Netherlands, explained in the magazine The European Conservative, Dutch polls “tend to change a lot before elections, often leading to a kind of consolidation behind larger parties thanks to tactical voting.
Prior to his stay in Brussels, Timmermans was a member of parliament and served as Dutch foreign minister under Mark Rutte from 2012 to 2014 and is now seeking to succeed Rutte as prime minister. However, the game is still open over who will become the new prime minister of the Netherlands, and this scandal could undermine the popularity of the most ideological of the European commissioners.