{"id":68417,"date":"2017-03-20T17:21:20","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T16:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/2017\/03\/20\/eur-studenten-schrijven-open-brief-aan-rutte-politici-misbruiken-hun-vrijheid-om-onze-planeet-te-verstieren\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:40","slug":"eur-studenten-schrijven-open-brief-aan-rutte-politici-misbruiken-hun-vrijheid-om-onze-planeet-te-verstieren-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/03\/20\/eur-studenten-schrijven-open-brief-aan-rutte-politici-misbruiken-hun-vrijheid-om-onze-planeet-te-verstieren-2\/","title":{"rendered":"EUR students write an open letter to Rutte: \u2018Politicians abuse their freedom to spoil our planet\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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De brief van de EUR-studenten aan Rutte.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Three of the four largest parties either have no ambitious climate policies or even deny there is a problem. Two econometric students were so appalled by this that they decided to write a letter to the Prime Minister: \u201cRutte has to have read it, but we haven\u2019t, as yet, had a response.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by Rutte\u2019s open letter in the national newspapers at the end of January, Jurriaan Wesselink and Tsjip van Hulst decided to reply to the Prime Minister. Rutte\u2019s anxieties about the loss of a Dutch identity were replaced by their worries about the climate. \u201cWe have an increasing sense of unease when these politicians abuse their freedom to spoil our planet, while they\u2019ve come to power to be responsible for the future. Politicians who do not want to adapt, run down ambitious ideas and reject climate values.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two students are studying for a master in Econometrics at EUR and, in the first instance, put the letter on Facebook<\/a> themselves. There it quickly became \u2018a hit\u2019: the letter has received more than one thousand \u2018likes\u2019 and has been shared almost as many times. \u201cVia via, the letter came to the attention of the NRC Handelsblad\u2019s editorial staff, who were keen to publish it,\u201d Tsjip van Hulst told us on the phone. And no sooner said than done.<\/a><\/p>\n

Shocked by the election results<\/h3>
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Tsjip van Hulst<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Wesselink and he wrote the letter in response to the election results on 15 March. \u201cWhen we heard the results, we started philosophising about the country\u2019s future. We were shocked when we realised that three of the four largest parties \u2013 VVD (the People\u2019s Party for Freedom and Democracy), the CDA (the Christian Democratic Alliance) and the PVV (the Party for Freedom) \u2013 either have no ambitious climate policy or even deny there\u2019s a problem. It was then that Jurriaan came up with the idea of writing a letter to the new Prime Minister,\u201d explained Van Hulst.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe letter just rolled out. I used Rutte\u2019s letter as a basis: his figures of speech and terminology.\u201d Consequently, the letter from the econometric students also contains words such as \u2018gaaf\u2019<\/em> [cool], \u2018niet normaal\u2019<\/em> [abnormal] and \u2018asociaal\u2019<\/em> [antisocial]. However, in the students\u2019 letter, it isn\u2019t \u2018people\u2019 who are behaving abnormally or antisocially, but Rutte\u2019s party itself. Even the layout is comparable to that of Rutte\u2019s open letter, although half of Rutte\u2019s head has been replaced by half of a globe of the world.<\/p>\n

Key question<\/h3>

In the penultimate paragraph, Rutte\u2019s key question is repeated: \u2018What sort of country do we want to be?\u2019 The Prime Minister\u2019s answer to this question? That is something the students are still waiting to hear. \u201cWe received a huge number of reactions and the letter was in a fairly prominent position in NRC\u2019s opinion section, so Rutte has to have read it. But as yet we haven\u2019t heard from him. I\u2019m intrigued to know whether he intends to reply.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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