Coalition talks leader Van Zwol to form new Cabinet; Won’t be PM

The four government parties have asked formation talks leader Richard van Zwol to be the “formateur” and help form their Cabinet. He has accepted the assignment, Van Zwol said, emphatically stressing that he will not be the new Prime Minister, AD reports.

Typically, the “formateur” becomes the new Prime Minister. That won’t be the case with Van Zwol. “I’m not available. It is a categorical no,” he said

In the coming weeks, Van Zwol will nominate Ministers and State Secretaries for the new Cabinet. The four party leaders will choose the candidates but in consultation with Van Zwol. How many administrative posts the new Cabinet will hold is not yet clear. Van Zwol expects the process to take about five weeks.

“The special thing about this formation is that the new Prime Minister comes from outside. Normally, the parties would have already negotiated names, but that has not happened now. For the continuity of the process, it has been decided that one of the formation talks leaders will lead this phase.”

He added that “no conclusion has yet been drawn” about who should become the new Prime Minister. Sources close to the formation process said that PVV leader Geert Wilders was eyeing Ronald Plasterk (PvdA) for the role.

The other leader of the formation talks, Elbert Dijkgraaf, said he might form part of the new Cabinet but will not be the Prime Minister.

Van Zwol and Dijkgraaf handed their report about the final phase of the formation talks to Tweede Kamer president Martin Bosma during the early hours of Thursday morning, just missing their May 15 deadline. The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, will debate it on Wednesday.

“This is a special moment at a special time,” Van Zwol joked as they handed over the report at around 2:00 a.m. Bosma responded: “It’s been a long day, but apparently there are a lot of i’s in this report that still needed dotting.”