New Party for the Animals leader keeps to broad left-wing course

Christine Teunissen has used her first speech as leader of the pro-animal PvdD to signal she will continue her predecessor’s expansion into left-wing politics, rather than steer the party back into a narrower focus on animal welfare.

Teunissen, who took over from Esther Ouwehand earlier this month, told a party congress in Den Bosch on Saturday that climate, animals and nature should come first, but that “the most vulnerable” went further than that.

She said she was applying for “the vacancy of climate nag” (klimaatdrammer), a nickname once embraced by prime minister Rob Jetten. But she said that since taking office, Jetten has become a premier who had “surrendered to the fossil-fuel VVD.”

The minority coalition of D66, VVD and CDA was doing far too little to combat climate change, Teunissen argued, citing the planned opening of Lelystad Airport and the scrapping of a CO2 levy on heavy industries. She described state support for the Tata Steel plant as billions of taxpayers’ money poured into “a bottomless pit”.

Teunissen also spoke about the Palestinians, refugees and what she called a “harsh right-wing wind” in the country. She said it was “bewildering” that Jetten, who had joined protests urging a tougher line on Israel before taking office, now avoided saying whether he would recognise a Palestinian state.

The widening of the party’s agenda beyond animal rights has divided its ranks. Last year co-founder Niko Koffeman and fellow senator Peter Nicolaï broke away, arguing the PvdD had become too preoccupied with issues such as Gaza.

Broadcaster NOS quoted her as saying the cabinet wanted to “cosy up to the far right” instead of setting clear norms, calling that an ideology “from which bombs are placed in asylum seeker centres”. She did not name a specific party.

The Party for the Animals has 3 seats in the lower house of parliament. Its 3-member group in the Senate fell apart last year in the row over the party’s direction.