D66 leader Kaag confirms she will be the new finance minister

Sigrid Kaag confirmed rumors that she will indeed become the finance minister in the new Cabinet. That post is "crucial" for the implementation of the "ambitious plans" that the coalition parties have for the upcoming years, the D66 leader said in a statement.

Kaag will be the first female finance minister, and the first D66 member to have the job. In this position she will not only be involved in almost all important consultations within the Cabinet, but she will also represent the Netherlands at the Eurogroup, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

The next Cabinet will be the fourth led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and is a coalition between his VVD party, Kaag’s D66, CDA, and ChristenUnie. The roles the party will fill in the 29 member Cabinet were confirmed on Thursday.

Earlier this week, it emerged that D66  claimed the top position at the Ministry of Finance. It has been customary for years for the second-largest party in a governing coalition to represent this role, but the current minister, CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra, reportedly wanted to continue.

Kaag will also become deputy prime minister, which she views as an important responsibility. "I am thinking in particular of working to halt the polarization in politics and in society," she said. Like all other intended ministers, Kaag will meet with formateur Mark Rutte next week.

She started in Rutte’s third Cabinet as the minister for foreign trade and development, and later took over as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. She resigned months later after the chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan when the Taliban took power there.