It’s still light outside, but Olaf Scholz doesn’t notice much of it. The Dutch government invited its guests from Germany to the Boijmans van Beuningen art depot in Rotterdam. 151,000 exhibits are housed in the imposing building with modern industrial concrete. Well protected, of course – also from daylight. Between sculptures, oil paintings and antique furniture behind glass, the Chancellor skillfully hides any tiredness, even if his little eyes speak a different language. The warehouse is a workplace, explains Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, “and that’s what we’re doing today.”
At this point, your guests have had 19 hours of coalition talks and a night of sleep behind them. Opinions differ on 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 overnight trading partners were “together in Holland to talk with our good friends about Europe and the future”. Of course it wasn’t planned that way. Departing in the early afternoon, they thought they were on the safe side – but negotiations to speed up the schedule turned out to be far more tedious than expected.
And so Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth of the Greens, Minister of Finance Christian Lindner and Minister of Transport Volker Wissing of the FDP, together with Chancellor Social- Democrat and his Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, dedicated to taking up relations with the Netherlands in colorful chairs in an artistic environment, which Scholz praises as “close partners and good friends”.
Rutte offers Scholz to answer for him, but the chancellor prefers to do it himself.
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 if he managed to get some sleep after the difficult coalition negotiations. He could assume the answer right away, Rutte offers, which he emphasizes with a friendly 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 himself: “No, I couldn’t sleep and, as you can see, I’m fine”, he reports. Again he praises the “nice breakpoint”. Most of his traveling companions traded overnight and “worked intensely with him to bring about modernization”. These are “very clear definitions” to achieve the necessary speed. The semaphore resolution not to trade at night if possible was forgotten. That’s just part of it, says Scholz, and it’s also a shared experience. “You talk about this for a long time,” enthuses Scholz.
But it’s also about Germany and the Netherlands. Scholz and Rutte praise the close military cooperation between the two countries. “The long-range mutual integration of our armed forces is unique in Europe,” Scholz said. 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”. The chancellor and prime minister also promise more arms aid to Ukraine, which has been invaded by Russia. “We’ll do this as long as it takes,” promises Rutte.
Scholz then thanks for the invitation to “this impressive museum building”. He has always wondered where the works “that you never see” are. At the end of this long day, he highlights that there is “open and impartial access to art and culture, which we absolutely need as an open and humanistic society”. “In this sense”, he believes, “we will also be inspired by this place”. Then it continues on Tuesday at nine o’clock in the Chancellery.