THURSDAY,
30 MAY 2024 - 11:13
Intended Prime Minister Dick Schoof joining first
Cabinet formation meeting today
Intended
Prime Minister Dick Schoof will join his first Cabinet formation meeting today.
He, along with formateur Richard van Zwol, will meet with the four party
leaders of PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB and work on selecting Ministers and State
Secretaries for the new right-wing Cabinet.
The Tweede
Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, had appointed Van Zwol as
“formateur,” instructing him to put together the new Cabinet by June 26. Van
Zwol said that, in theory, he could have transferred the role of formateur to
Schoof - traditionally, the new Prime Minister puts together the Cabinet - but
that would require another parliamentary debate to officially appoint Schoof.
“And then it’s a week later to just change names,” Van Zwol said. Instead, Van
Zwol and Schoof will talk to prospective Cabinet members together.
The parties
are currently sounding out their candidates. The intention is that
approximately half of the Ministers be politicians and the other half experts
from their fields. According to Parool, names floating around in the political
corridors include VVD MPs Eelco Heijnen (intended for Finance) and Sophie
Hermans. The BBB wants to put Mona Keijzer forward, and NSC has Eddy van Hijum
tipped for Social Affairs.
Geert
Wilders’ pool is much smaller as he is the sole member of the PVV. According to
RTL Nieuws, he is scrambling to find Cabinet members. The list of 45 candidates
for the parliamentary collection was basically exhausted by the 37 Tweede Kamer
seats he won. Two others are holding Senate seats. Only six names remain.
A few
faction members’ names are circulating as possible PVV Ministers, including
Fleur Agema for Public Health. SGP member and former formation talks leader
Elbert Dijgkraaf and VVD member Fred Teeven could also end up on the Cabinet on
behalf of the PVV.
Typically,
the formation of the new Cabinet only takes a week or two. This time is taking
much longer. Usually, the prospective coalition already discusses the
distribution of ministerial posts when working on their coalition agreement. It
is common that the largest party gets Prime Minister, the second gets Finance,
the third Social Affairs, etc.
But as
Wilders can’t be Prime Minister and the other party leaders won’t take Cabinet
positions, and because Schoof is supposed to represent all four parties and not
just the largest, PVV, that recipe can’t be followed this time. The intended
Prime Minister also wants a say in what his Cabinet will look like. As Schoof
was only put forward this week, these negotiations still have a long way to go.
After that,
the new Cabinet members will be questioned by the Tweede Kamer. GroenLinks-PvdA
parliamentarian has asked Schoof to volunteer for the questioning, too, to
introduce himself to all parliamentarians. It is not clear whether he will
agree. And then the new Cabinet can be presented.
The
timeline for all of this is still uncertain, but it must happen before Van
Zwol’s deadline of June 26.
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