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NL 
Seven years and a lot of grey hairs ago, I met Rob Jetten. That the atmosphere was top notch, and that of those hairs, can be seen in the photo. But more importantly: that day stood for something very beautiful, something a Jetten 1 cabinet should stand for.
The situation: in March 2018, I got to lead a session at Dudok with Rob Jetten, among others. He came to 'adopt' an SDG as a member of parliament. This meant that he would campaign in the Lower House for good policy on a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and that we would support him with input from the field from the Building Change partnership. He had chosen SDG 7: clean and affordable energy. An SDG where he was later allowed to make real metres in the dossier as Minister of Climate and Energy.
This all seems like a bit of foreign enthusiasm on the margins, but it is anything but. And it also stands for the Rob Jetten we are going to need for the future of the Netherlands. Because the SDG agenda is a symbol of a way forward that Jetten can be the driving force behind. Let me explain why:
The SDGs are the result of an unimaginably large round of input gathering, fine-tuning and negotiation. They are goals that lay down a shared ambition between countries that have hardly anything in common. Large and small, democratic and authoritarian, rich and poor countries - all have eventually signed up to the 17 sustainability targets. Because the challenges for people and planet are so great.
When we look at the state of politics in the Netherlands, and the huge differences we sometimes focus on, we would almost forget that we also face huge challenges that we can only solve together. Problems at home, like the housing crisis, and problems that disrespect borders, like the climate.
Rob Jetten was known for having an empty chair at meetings as Minister for Climate and Energy. This empty chair represented those who could not be there: the children of the future. The people who have not yet been born, but have to live with the consequences of our choices today. That is why it was called the #Future chair named.
Seen from the perspective of future generations, our differences suddenly become a lot less important. From that perspective, it is also much easier to imagine how we can meet the big challenges together. And let Rob Jetten campaign with the slogan: 'It can be done!
Shaping a shared broad agenda for the Netherlands that bridges differences, and expresses ambition. Negotiators who make the 1TP5Future chair seriously join the formation. A Rob Jetten who not only takes SDG 7 with him as climate minister, but takes all SDGs with him to the Ministry of General Affairs and the EU. That is the Rob Jetten I met that afternoon in March 2018. That is the Rob Jetten we need.
