Dutch MPs reject including the King in the Cabinet formation process

The king will not be involved in the formation of a new Cabinet. A proposal by the CDA, the SGP, the ChristenUnie, and the BBB, to include him in the cabinet formation process was rejected on Tuesday by the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament.

The VVD notably rejected the proposal. While the party is generally receptive to the idea, it first wants to investigate its implications further, VVD MP Ingrid Michon-Derkzen said. At the "earliest opportunity," she will request a "detailed analysis" of the issue.

The parliamentarians were not satisfied with the previous so-called exploratory phase of the formation. This is the two-week period between the elections and the inauguration of the new members of the Tweede Kamer. To save time, an “advisor” ("verkenner" in Dutch) was introduced. Their role was to meet with party leaders and discuss their views on the election results, in order to map out the possibilities for a new coalition.

But talks went dramatically awry after the last election in 2021, when two advisors were asked to find a path to a coalition. This happened because D66 pushed to appoint someone following their big election victory. Moreover, the two selected politicians - Annemarie Jorritsma (VVD) and Kajsa Ollongren (D66) - were both still politically active.

The conversations quickly shifted to the content of a deal, and the personnel involved. For example, there was talk of finding a “position elsewhere” for Pieter Omtzigt, the “difficult” member of parliament who was then with CDA. Those descriptions were scrawled down in Ollongren’s notes, which were captured on camera by an ANP photographer. This led to a major crisis of confidence in the Binnenhof, the Dutch parliamentary complex.

Although the king will not return, the Tweede Kamer has adopted other changes to make the formation process more smooth. A plan by D66 and GroenLinks-PvdA won a majority vote, which would afford the largest party to appoint one person as a formation advisor. It must be someone who has a “distance from daily politics” and their appointment must have broad support in the Tweede Kamer.

The Tweede Kamer will also agree on clear terms for the advisor tasked with bringing a coalition agreement closer to a final document. That term could be six or eight weeks, for example. Once the term has expired, the progress will be considered in a parliamentary debate.