NSC wants to look ahead after the departure of founder Pieter Omtzigt. “We are moving forward” and “building further on a new book,” party leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven said on Saturday at a party conference. At the same time, it became clear that Omtzigt and the party are not letting go of each other.
“Rest, recover, and know: the door is always wide open for you,” Van Vroonhoven said to Omtzigt.
The party conference in Arnhem, which was attended by about four hundred members, mainly focused on Omtzigt’s departure from politics. He recently resigned from Parliament due to recurring burnout complaints.
Omtzigt, who was present at the conference for a few hours, was greeted with a big round of applause. In his 45-minute farewell speech, the founder of NSC hinted several times at his continued involvement with the party. “Active members are the most important political ingredient of the party. And someone with member number one will be active after the summer,” he said.
“The ideals are not gone. The energy is a bit,” Omtzigt added. After the summer, he wants to see if he can focus on themes that affect him, such as a resilient democracy and the models on which politics bases policy.
Van Vroonhoven will now lead the party. As Omtzigt’s successor, she will have to do her best to become the face of the party. In her own speech at the conference, she emphasized that NSC is more than “a one-man project.”
But for that, the party must make its own ideals clearer and pursue them, Van Vroonhoven said. According to the party leader, NSC still has a right to exist, despite a significant drop in the polls. According to her, there is still a need for a different relationship between the citizen and the government.
In her speech, Van Vroonhoven emphasized NSC’s desire to make society more resilient. Citizens themselves must also become more resilient, “form their own opinion based on facts and common sense” and “stand up when necessary, sometimes even against the government.”
Van Vroonhoven sees it positively herself, because according to her, the party “has a solid foundation.”
That solid foundation will remain without Omtzigt for the time being. What role he wants to play after the summer is not yet clear. But the chance is very small that he will come to the foreground. On Saturday he was given the title ‘honorary member’ of NSC.