During the PvdA knowledge festival in Nijmegen on 19 February 2000, it was decided that a working group for democratisation would be founded, with the introduction of an elected head of state as its primary issue, which almost all present were in favour of. Early March 2000, MP Femke Halsema (GreenLeft) called for discussion on abolishing the monarchy, because according to her 'the time is ripe', and she pleaded for the establishment of a parliamentary republic after the German model. Even though an elected head of state was in the election programme of GreenLeft, fraction leader Paul Rosenmöller said he found it 'no urgent matter'. D66 leader Thom de Graaf, opining in April 2000 that there was not enough momentum for a republic, instead presented a plan for a 'modern kingship' as an alternative: the king should be 'at a distance, but have authority', comparable to the German president. According to him, the king's membership of the government, chairmanship of the Council of State, role as initiator of the formation and signer of laws was 'outdated', but De Graaf was also against a completely ceremonial Swedish model. GreenLeft, including both Halsema and Rosenmöller, backed De Graaf. The response from the PvdA, which at the time stated in its party platform that the royal house should be replaced by an elected head of state, was disunited: Prime Minister Wim Kok was open to discussion, but said he did not intend to 'change anything about the head of state's constitutional position', as did former Queen's Commissioner Roel de Wit and MP Peter Rehwinkel; other PvdA members such as senator Erik Jurgens spoke in favour of modernisation, still others went a step further and advocated for a republic, such as senator Willem Witteveen, party ideologue Paul Kalma and professor Maarten Hajer. A TNS NIPO survey showed that 27% of the population agreed with De Graaf's plea for modernisation, whilst 67% opposed changing the kingship, and 6% wanted an even stronger kingship. In total, 90% wanted to maintain the monarchy, although 44% agreed with Halsema that hereditary succession was 'outdated'; however, another 44% did not see hereditary succession as a problem at all. On 9 May, De Graaf requested the government to produce a memorandum about the modernisation of the kingship, in which D66 was supported by the PvdA, the SP and GreenLeft (together 75 MPs, 50%). However, the VVD, the CDA and the small Christian fractions (also 75 MPs combined) did not feel the need for a memorandum (although they would not block a discussion on the topic), and Prime Minister Kok said he would only discuss his views on modernisation of the monarchy during his explanation of the General Affairs's budget on Prinsjesdag. On Prinsjesdag 2000, Kok made no proposals to the effect of amending the kingschap; he merely suggested that after elections, Parliament itself could host a consultative debate on who should be appointed informateur, but the eventual choice would remain a royal privilege. D66 responded with disappointment. In November 2000, a tight majority of the D66 party congress backed De Graaf's proposal, whilst over a third of the members voted for a republic.
