A right-wing Dutch cabinet is ready to take up its duties after almost seven months of negotiations, PVV leader and election winner Geert Wilders announced on Tuesday afternoon.
“We’ve sorted it out! Agreement on everything! A new cabinet,” Wilders wrote on X.
In May, Wilders’ nationalist PVV party reached an agreement to form a coalition with three other conservative parties. They had, however, not yet agreed on cabinet posts.
While there has not been an official announcement, state-funded NOS reports that Geert Wilders’ anti-islamist and anti-mass migration PVV will supply five out of the 15 ministers—most importantly, the minister for migration.
MP Gidi Markuszower is reported to be the new migration minister. For years, Markuszower has been the spokesman for what has been one of the party’s core issues. He will now be tasked with reaching the ambitious goals the new cabinet has set for itself in stemming the flow of migration.
PVV’s Fleur Agema has been appointed as Health Care Minister—another key issue for the party. Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Economic Affairs, and Infrastructure go to other PVV members, as yet unnamed.
In addition, the party will provide four state secretaries on Health Care, Justice, Interior Affairs, and Infrastructure.
Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Van Rutte’s VVD will supply four ministers:
- Finance: Unknown
- Justice: David van Weel
- Defense: Ruben Brekelmans
- Climate: Sophie Hermans
The PVV will supply three state secretaries for Education, Social Affairs and Health, Welfare, and Sport.
The center-right NSC will also provide four ministers:
- Home Affairs: Unknown
- Foreign Affairs: Casper Veldkamp
- Social Affairs: Eddy van Hijum
- Education: Unknown
In addition, NSC will provide two state secretaries on Finance (Folkert Idsinga) and on Justice (Unknown).
The agrarian populist BBB provides two ministers:
- Agriculture and Fisheries: Unknown
- Housing: Mona Keijzer
The position of Minister of Nitrogen and Nature, which was conceived under the Rutte IV administration, will disappear—a clear win for the BBB, which got most of its support from Dutch farmers and sympathizers who saw the group as being unfairly targeted by their government in its efforts to reduce nitrogen emissions.
In addition, BBB is to provide two state secretaries on Agriculture and Defense.
Gidi Markuszower (PVV), Sophie Hermans (of the liberal VVD), Eddy van Hijum (of the center-right NSC) and Mona Keijzer (of the agrarian populist BBB) will be supporting Schoof as deputy prime ministers.
In total, there will be 15 ministers and 12 or 13 state secretaries.
The news follows the appointment by all four coalition partners of the non-politically- affiliated Dick Schoof as new Prime Minister earlier this month.
Schoof, 67, was the senior official at the Dutch justice ministry until last month after having led the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD and anti-terrorism agency NCTV for years.
Before any official announcement of how the ministerial posts will have been distributed among the parties, formalities must be observed.
Each candidate is required to go through a screening process. Only when this is done, and each candidate is cleared, can they collectively have their picture taken with Dutch king Willem-Alexander on the palace steps, as is customary.
