Geert Wilders wants former left-wing minister to lead Cabinet formation talks

PVV leader Geert Wilders is set to nominate former PvdA minister Ronald Plasterk as the new scout for the Cabinet formation process, according to RTL Nieuws. This comes after PVV Senator Gom van Strien stepped down from his role due to fraud allegations just a few hours before the first talks were scheduled on Monday morning.

Ronald Plasterk is expected to receive his nomination tomorrow. As a member of the left-wing party PvdA, he was the Minister of Education, Culture, and Science from 2007 to 2010 in the fourth Balkende Cabinet and later served as the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations from 2012 to 2017 in the second Rutte Cabinet.

The 66-year-old man from The Hague has a PhD in biology, specializing in molecular genetics. He has been working as a professor at the University of Amsterdam since 2018.

Plasterk, who is a regular contributor to De Telegraaf as a columnist, has been noted by several Dutch media outlets for often distancing himself from the positions of the PvdA. He has notably expressed criticisms of the Paris Climate Agreement and the European Union. He is also a vocal proponent of nuclear energy, contrary to the PvdA/GL alliance led by former EU commissioner Frans Timmermans.

In his most recent column in de De Telegraaf following the elections, Plasterk indicated how he envisioned the new coalition. “What should be done now? That's not a difficult question. Justice must be done to the election results. The winners are PVV (37 seats), NSC (20) and BBB (7), and – admittedly a loser, but still big – there is the VVD (24). Together they have a large majority and many common program points,” Plasterk wrote. "All things considered, there are no serious alternative coalitions. The formation process is not extremely complicated and should not take very long," he concluded.

When asked by De Telegraaf, Plasterk could not deny the report. He remarked that he is now "familiar with the procedure" and added that "the Tweede Kamer will nominate someone tomorrow."