Rutte scoped out possible successors during Cabinet formation; Schoof was third choice

Former Prime Minister Mark Rutte played a crucial role in finding his successor, AD reports based on its own reconstruction of the Cabinet formation. According to the newspaper, VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz asked him to call the coalition parties’ top three candidates and see if he could convince them to take the job. Dick Schoof, third on the list, eventually did.

In mid-March, the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB leaders were at De Zwaluwenberg estate. They had decided to govern together but now had to figure out what it looked like in practice. The end of that multi-day meeting was that Geert Wilders wouldn’t be Prime Minister - a hard no for NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt.

Wilders nominated Ronald Plasterk to be the Prime Minister, but on May 19 that fell apart amid accusations of patent fraud at the Amsterdam UMC. That left Wilders empty-handed. On May 22, the Cabinet formation process began in earnest, with formation leader Richard van Zwol having no idea who would become Prime Minister and who wanted which Ministries.

At the insistence of Omtzigt, the parties set up a “profile” of what they wanted in their Prime Minister and then submitted a long list of candidates, which Van Zwol narrowed down to three names - Jan Kees de Jager, the former CDA Minister of Finance in the Rutte I Cabinet, Marnix van Rij, the CDA State Secretary of Finance in the Rutte IV Cabinet, and Dick Schoof.

Wilders called the candidates. De Jager gave Wilders a hard no. Van Rij and Schoof said they needed to think about it.

According to AD, this is where Yeşilgöz called in Rutte and asked him to speak to the candidates. Van Rij beat Rutte to the punch and called him first. Rutte noted that Van Rij is not at all eager for the job. He then called De Jager, who said he had already spoken to Wilders and said he was not in the running.

That made Rutte’s call to Schoof crucial. According to the newspaper’s sources, Rutte deliberately did not exert any pressure but inspired Schoof about what a wonderful job Prime Minister would be, stressing that he could make a real difference as an experienced crisis manager. Schoof still said he had to think about it.

After the weekend, the coalition met with Van Rij. After a difficult conversation, Van Rij officially pulled out of the running. Later that morning, they spoke to Schoof. He asked questions about the clarity and scope of what the job would entail. Schoof left the meeting without committing, but a day later, on Tuesday, May 28, he informed the coalition that he would take the job.

A noteworthy detail: According to AD, Wilders agreed to give up the Prime Ministership, but on the condition that the Asylum Distribution Law be scrapped and that the healthcare deductible be halved. Both measures are in the government’s plans, despite heavy criticism from the organizations involved. The scrapping of the Asylum Distribution Law has recently been delayed from before the end of this year - a condition Wilders set for giving up his long-cherished plan of declaring an asylum crisis - to submitting the plan for advice in the first quarter of next year.