Former intelligence service boss Dick Schoof expected to be next Dutch Prime Minister
Learn more about Dick Schoof in an article about his background
The PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB will nominate Dick Schoof for the Prime Minister job, sources told RTL Nieuws and NOS. The 67-year-old man is currently the highest official at the Ministry of Justice security and previously led the intelligence service AIVD, counter-terrorism agency NCTV, and immigration service IND.
According to NOS’s sources, the new coalition parties will officially announce Schoof’s nomination later this afternoon. Schoof used to be a member of the PvdA, but resigned his membership a while ago.
It was an open secret that PVV leader Geert Wilders wanted to nominate Ronald Plasterk (PvdA) to be Prime Minister, but Plasterk made himself unavailable due to allegations of patent fraud against him.
Parliament, therefore, appointed Richard van Zwol as “formatuer” - the person who puts together the new Cabinet - and gave him five weeks to select Ministers and State Secretaries for the four right-wing parties’ extra-parliamentary Cabinet. The role of formateur typically goes to the new Prime Minister, but as no one had been nominated yet, Van Zwol’s first task was to find someone for the job. He has been discussing candidates with Wilders, Dilan Yeşilgöz (VVD), Pieter Omtzigt (NSC), and Caroline van der Plas (BBB) since last week.
As former director of the intelligence and immigration services, Schoof seems an ideal candidate to implement the coalition’s plans for the “strictest asylum policy yet” and for fighting organized crime.
