Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has sworn in the country’s new right-wing government, seven months after Geert Wilders’ populist Party for Freedom (PVV) caused a political earthquake by winning the most seats at the general election.
Despite the victory, Wilders will not hold a position in the new government, which is formed of his party, the liberal-conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the centre-right New Social Contract, and the agrarian Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB).
Former intelligence chief Dick Schoof, a career bureaucrat who is not a member of any of the coalition parties, is the new prime minister. His government aims to implement the country’s “strictest ever” immigration controls.
He was sworn in alongside 15 other ministers from the various coalition parties. The PVV’s Marjolein Faber is the new Immigration Minister, while Eelco Heinen of the VVD is the new Finance Minister, and Judith Uitermark of the NSC is the Interior Minister.
Dutch news outlet NieuwRechts notes that Femke Wiersma of the BBB, the new Minister of Agriculture, and Folkert Idsinga (NSC), State Secretary of Taxation and Customs, chose to swear the oath in Frisian—the country’s second language.
The coalition agreement, entitled “Hope, courage and pride,” seeks to introduce strict measures on asylum seekers, scrap family reunification for refugees, and reduce the number of international students allowed to study in the country.
The agreement, released in May, emphasised that “limiting the scale of and getting a grip on all types of migration to the Netherlands, as soon as possible, is necessary, for now and for the longer term.”
