Intended Prime Minister Dick Schoof joining first Cabinet formation meeting today
Intended Prime Minister Dick Schoof will join his first Cabinet formation meeting today. He, along with formateur Richard van Zwol, will meet with the four party leaders of PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB and work on selecting Ministers and State Secretaries for the new right-wing Cabinet.
The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, had appointed Van Zwol as “formateur,” instructing him to put together the new Cabinet by June 26. Van Zwol said that, in theory, he could have transferred the role of formateur to Schoof - traditionally, the new Prime Minister puts together the Cabinet - but that would require another parliamentary debate to officially appoint Schoof. “And then it’s a week later to just change names,” Van Zwol said. Instead, Van Zwol and Schoof will talk to prospective Cabinet members together.
The parties are currently sounding out their candidates. The intention is that approximately half of the Ministers be politicians and the other half experts from their fields. According to Parool, names floating around in the political corridors include VVD MPs Eelco Heijnen (intended for Finance) and Sophie Hermans. The BBB wants to put Mona Keijzer forward, and NSC has Eddy van Hijum tipped for Social Affairs.
Geert Wilders’ pool is much smaller as he is the sole member of the PVV. According to RTL Nieuws, he is scrambling to find Cabinet members. The list of 45 candidates for the parliamentary collection was basically exhausted by the 37 Tweede Kamer seats he won. Two others are holding Senate seats. Only six names remain.
A few faction members’ names are circulating as possible PVV Ministers, including Fleur Agema for Public Health. SGP member and former formation talks leader Elbert Dijgkraaf and VVD member Fred Teeven could also end up on the Cabinet on behalf of the PVV.
Typically, the formation of the new Cabinet only takes a week or two. This time is taking much longer. Usually, the prospective coalition already discusses the distribution of ministerial posts when working on their coalition agreement. It is common that the largest party gets Prime Minister, the second gets Finance, the third Social Affairs, etc.
But as Wilders can’t be Prime Minister and the other party leaders won’t take Cabinet positions, and because Schoof is supposed to represent all four parties and not just the largest, PVV, that recipe can’t be followed this time. The intended Prime Minister also wants a say in what his Cabinet will look like. As Schoof was only put forward this week, these negotiations still have a long way to go.
After that, the new Cabinet members will be questioned by the Tweede Kamer. GroenLinks-PvdA parliamentarian has asked Schoof to volunteer for the questioning, too, to introduce himself to all parliamentarians. It is not clear whether he will agree. And then the new Cabinet can be presented.
The timeline for all of this is still uncertain, but it must happen before Van Zwol’s deadline of June 26.
