The Sigrid Kaag Moment
No time for diplomacy.
AFTER A TOUGH PATCH for opinion pollsters, who failed to predict Brexit or Trump among other lapses, the professionals called the Dutch election about right. The final count of parliamentary seats was more or less in line with exit polls, even if those predictions were at least a bit of a surprise.
In the new dawn of the day after the ballot, D66 voters especially detected some prospect of change. Maybe. It all boils down to what the party's leader Sigrid Kaag does next.
With negotiations to form a new coalition underway, this is the Sigrid Kaag moment. Whether it turns into a big moment - an opportunity to pivot away from serial ineffective policy trade-offs, or proves only to be a fleeting distraction before business as usual resumes - is open to speculation.
In a letter to the so-called ‘scouts’ tasked with sounding out prospects for a coalition, Kaag was forthright. She urged envoys, despatched by the VVD and D66 to canv…