It’s still light outside, but Olaf Scholz doesn’t notice much of that. The Dutch government has invited its guests from Germany to the Boijmans van Beuningen art depot in Rotterdam. 151,000 exhibits are stored in the imposing building with lots of modern industrial concrete. Well protected, of course – also from daylight. Between the sculptures, oil paintings and old furniture behind glass, the chancellor covers up occasional bouts of tiredness with some skill, even if his small eyes speak a different language. The depot is a place of work, explains Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, “and that’s what we’re doing today.”
At this point, his guests have had 19 hours of negotiations in the coalition and a night’s sleep behind them. Opinions differ as to whether the fourth German-Dutch government consultations are called work or alternation.
After landing, Scholz called it a “really nice break” that he and some of his nocturnal negotiating partners were “together in the Netherlands to talk to our good friends about Europe and the future”. Of course it wasn’t planned that way. With a departure in the early afternoon, they thought they were on the safe side – but the negotiations to speed up planning had turned out to be much more tedious than expected.
And so Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth from the Greens, Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Transport Minister Volker Wissing from the FDP, together with the Social Democratic Chancellor and his Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, devote themselves to relations with the Netherlands on colorful chairs in an artistic setting , which Scholz praises as “close partners and good friends”.
Rutte offers Scholz to answer for him, but the chancellor prefers to do it himself
The friendship is confirmed immediately. In any case, the liberal Rutte jumps to his guest’s side in a very comradely manner when he is asked whether he was able to sleep a bit after the difficult coalition talks. He could take over the answer right away, Rutte offers, which he underscores with a buddy-like handshake. He is familiar with difficult constellations. The Dutchman reports that his own coalition includes four and not just three parties.
Scholz prefers to answer the question himself. “No, I couldn’t sleep and, as you can see, I’m fine,” he reports. Once again he praises the “nice point of the interruption”. Most of his travel companions negotiated through the night and “worked intensively with him to advance modernization”. It is about “very clear definitions” in order to achieve the necessary speed. The traffic light resolution not to negotiate at night if possible has been forgotten. That’s just part of it, says Scholz, and it’s also a shared experience. “You talk about it for a long time,” Scholz enthuses.
But it is also about Germany and the Netherlands. Scholz and Rutte praise the close military cooperation between the two countries. “The far-reaching mutual integration of our armed forces is unique in Europe,” said Scholz. In three days, the full integration of all three Dutch army brigades into Bundeswehr structures will be completed. This is “a milestone and an incentive”. Chancellor and prime minister also pledge further arms aid to Ukraine, which has been invaded by Russia. “We’ll do that as long as it’s necessary,” promises Rutte.
Scholz then thanks for the invitation to “this impressive museum building”. He has always wondered where the works are “that you never see”. At the end of this long day, he points out that there is “open and impartial access to art and culture, which we absolutely need as an open, humanistic society.” “In this sense,” he believes, “we will also be inspired by this place”. It then continues on Tuesday at nine o’clock in the Chancellery.