Advisor proposes six-party center-left coalition for The Hague City Council

D66, GroenLinks, animal rights party PvdD, PvdA, CDA, and DENK are open to coalition talks in The Hague. According to Arie Slob, recently tasked with assessing potential coalition options after the prior coalition collapsed in June, these six parties represent "the last remaining majority option” for forming a coalition. Hart voor Den Haag and the VVD would not be included in that scenario in the new coalition. He announced his report on Tuesday.

Following several meetings with the chairmen of the political parties, Slob concluded that forming a coalition with Hart voor Den Haag, the largest party in the city council, is impossible. The party was previously part of a coalition from 2018 to 2019. The collaboration stopped amid allegations of corruption against former alderman Richard de Mos and Rachid Guernaoui. Both were accused by the Public Prosecutor Service (OM) of helping businesses in return for party donations.

They were acquitted of corruption in April, and their party now wants to return to the coalition. However, the Public Prosecution Service intends to pursue a conviction on appeal for bribery and breaching confidentiality rules.

VVD, CDA and D66 were willing to discuss a return to the coalition with De Mos, but PvdA and GroenLinks were strongly against it, leading to the fall of the coalition after VVD ended cooperation.

Because of the unrest, Slob was appointed to find potential points of compromise between parties to form a new coalition, which would be the city's fourth in five years. Slob is the former Minister for Primary and Secondary Education who served on the third Cabinet of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Prior to that, the 61-year-old served in the Tweede Kamer and was the leader of ChristenUnie.