Coalition talks continue: Meeting with Wilders over in 20 mins

The process of government formation continued on Wednesday with a meeting between coalition scout Edith Schippers and PVV leader Geert Wilders. The meeting lasted a relatively short 20 minutes. Afterwards Wilders would say nothing other than it was "interesting", NOS reports

The meeting with Wilders was the only one Schippers had scheduled for Wednesday. On Thursday she is meeting with the leaders of the VVD, D66, CDA and GroenLinks together to see if a coalition will be possible between the four parties. Negotiations are expected to be difficult, since the standpoints of the VVD and GroenLinks specifically are very different on a number of topics, especially climate, asylum and income equality.

The meeting between Schippers and Wilders today seemed nothing more than a gesture. It is unlikely that Wilders and his PVV will be part of future coalition negotiations, since most of the other parties refuse to work with him.

After the first coalition meetings on Monday, in which Schippers met each leader of the 13 elected parties separately, Wilders said that it would be "undemocratic" if the PVV is not part of the coalition negotiations. This morning he likely again heard that he will very probably not be part of the government this term.

Schippers intended to have a report on the best coalition options ready today, so that the new parliament can debate it tomorrow, but she asked for a week's extension because she needs more time. Schippers now wants to present her report on Tuesday next week. Parliament will debate it the following day.