Rutte II cabinet the longest serving Dutch govt. since WWII

The Rutte II cabinet is now officially the longest serving Dutch government since the Second World War. On Sunday the VVD-PvdA coalition served a total of 1,749 days - one day more than the previous record holder, the Lubbers III cabinet, NOS reports.

The third Ruud Lubbers cabinet, a CDA and PvdA coalition, ruled for 1,748 days from 1989 to 1994. The cabinet that followed, Kok I, also had a long formation process, lasting 111 days. Today is the 159th day of the current government formation talks.

The record is a combination of the government serving its entire four year term and the new government taking a long time to form. The VVD and PvdA government was determined to serve the entire term, because the ministers found stability important in leading the Netherlands through the economic crisis, according to the broadcaster. Last week Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the record a nice achievement, but attributed it mainly to the slow formation.

The longest serving cabinet in Dutch parliamentary history was the extra-parliamentary government of Pieter Cort van der Linden, which led the Netherlands through the First World War. That government served 1,838 days between 1913 and 1918.