Coalition agreement presented today after record long formation process

After a record-long formation process, the parties that negotiated with each other in recent weeks will present their coalition agreement on Wednesday. The party leaders and deputies of the VVD, D66, CDA, and ChristenUnie will meet in the morning with the points their factions still want to tinker with. After that, the party leaders will explain the agreement in the hall of the lower house of the Dutch parliament.

The VVD faction was the last to approve the coalition agreement on Tuesday, and according to deputy party leader Sophie Hermans, had some "substantive points." The small faction of the ChristenUnie said it brought more to the agreement than in 2017 but wants to talk about "a few points that weigh heavily" on Wednesday. The CDA faction was the first to give the green light and is "very satisfied," according to party leader Wopke Hoekstra. He still wants to talk about "details."

Some proposals in the coalition agreement have already been leaked to the public. So far, it appears that this government mainly spends money. Many billions will be invested in combatting CO2 emissions and nitrogen precipitation, tackling the housing crisis, and improving purchasing power.

When presenting the agreement, the party leaders will mainly want to emphasize the promised "new impetus." The four parties were also the old coalition, and the opposition says that this is only a restart of Rutte III. Parliament will debate the coalition agreement on Thursday. The names of the Cabinet members will be announced in the coming weeks. The new ministerial team is expected to be presented early next year.