Dutch Embrace the Bad-Guy Role Britain Left Vacant in Europe

(Bloomberg) -- Wopke Hoekstra wasn’t looking for controversy, but when he found it, he didn’t flinch.

The Dutch finance minister says he meant to express his solidarity with the countries of southern Europe hit hardest by the coronavirus when he met with euro-area colleagues in early March.

But he also wondered out loud why so many of them had failed to build up a financial cushion. And that’s the line that cut through.

The Portuguese prime minister said his comments were “disgusting” and the Italian press called him “cruel.” On social media the language was at times far worse. Hoekstra, 44, grudgingly accepts he pitched his message wrongly, though he isn’t shifting his stance.

“I’m not made of sugar,” he says in an interview at his office in The Hague.

When European Union leaders gather in Brussels on Friday aiming to agree on a massive stimulus fund to rebuild their economies, the Netherlands will be crucial. With the British missing from EU discussions, the Dutch have taken up their role of posing difficult questions.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte has been leading the opposition to plans for as much as 750 billion euros ($850 billion) in aid and says he’s “somber” about the chances of an agreement this week. But Hoekstra’s domestic maneuvering suggests there may be more room for an eventual deal than either are letting on.

There’s a proud tradition of Dutch finance ministers winning plaudits at home and opprobrium in the rest of Europe for their hard line approach. As a series of EU leaders visited The Hague this month to lobby Rutte, Hoekstra, a 6-foot-6 (2 meter) former McKinsey partner, has pushed back against suggestions his boss might be signaling compromise.

“If you have come up with a responsible position, it’s wise not to budge a millimeter,” he says. “Don’t forget that the vast majority of the Netherlands either agreed with the government’s position or thought it was too soft.”

Hoekstra cultivates an image as a man of action, insisting he’s more interested in doing a good job than securing political advancement.

The amateur kickboxer will sometimes turn up for internal meetings in his gym kit and tries to persuade his team to join him for early morning workouts when they are on the road, one aide said. In the corner of the conference room where he’s delicately sipping cappuccino is an imposing set of weights.

Yet as his party, the Christian Democrats, prepared to select a candidate for next year’s general election, Hoekstra shocked the Dutch political class last month by ruling himself out. That changes the calculus for Rutte.

The premier has one eye on March’s election as prepares for the EU negotiations, still haunted by a broken 2012 pledge “not to send more money to Greece.” He’s wary of the populist threat after losing control of the upper house last year after defeat by the anti-EU party Forum for Democracy.

Hoekstra would have been a dream candidate for the Christian Democrats, able to steal votes from liberal parties to the left and populists on the right and boosted by a reputation for playing tough with Europe.

Without having to worry about a direct contest with the Christian Democrat star, it may be easier for Rutte to reach an agreement and sell it to voters, according to one senior official with knowledge of the matter.

Hoekstra has long been touted as a potential prime minister and that has been his goal when he entered frontline politics as the country’s youngest senator in 2011, the official said. But the chances of a victory for his Christian Democrats are remote at this point.

Boosted by his successful handling of the pandemic, Rutte’s liberal group the VVD is on track to add eight deputies next year, according to the latest polls. That would leave it on 41 in the 150-seat parliament while Hoekstra’s party is set to slip back to 16, sharing second place with the populists.

By avoiding a head-on clash with Rutte, Hoekstra may boost his chances of staying on as finance minister while Rutte has a better shot at becoming the country’s longest serving prime minister ever. And the prospect of the right kind of agreement on the recovery fund, may prove less of a decisive issue for the coalition.

“I am from the pro-European wing of a pro-European political party,” Hoekstra says. “I am critical toward European proposals not because I do not care, but because I care so much.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.