Still no Cabinet; Finances the sticking point

PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB have still not reached an agreement on the formation of a new Cabinet. After another long day of negotiations between the four party leaders, Geert Wilders (PVV) left at around 10:30 p.m. According to formation leaders Richard van Zwol and Elbert Dijkgraaf, finances remain the biggest stumbling block in the negotiations.

“From the beginning, we have said that the financial puzzle is one of the most difficult things. Also, there is little money. That is a big difference with previous formations,” Dijkgraaf said after the talks on Monday.

The party leaders declined to comment on Monday's negotiations. “I have nothing to say,” Wilders said. Dilan Yeşilgöz (VVD), Pieter Omtzigt (NSC), and Caroline van der Plas (BBB) left without saying anything.

The four parties will continue on Tuesday morning at 8:45. It will be another “very long day, you can count on that,” Van Zwol said.

The financial puzzle needs to be discussed properly again and a “few topics need to be weighed against each other,” according to Van Zwol. He did not say what these were.

“Of course,” the future Prime Minister is being discussed informally, he said but did not comment further. PVV leader Geert Wilders said last week that he had a Prime Minister in mind and had already approached him. According to Dijkgraaf, the distribution of ministerial posts was not discussed on Monday.

Time is ticking away. Wednesday is the formation leader’s deadline to submit their final report to parliament. “It is realistic, but it is indeed tight,” said Van Zwol. According to him, the negotiations could still fail. Dijkgraaf hopes that the discussions will be completed today, but otherwise, that will have to happen tomorrow morning.

Before the final report goes to parliament, it must first be submitted to the factions of the four negotiating parties. The various factions are involved in the negotiations. In recent days, the party leaders were always accompanied by one or more seconds.