Herman Tjeenk Willink is resigning as mediator in the Dutch government formation negotiations, sources reported to De Telegraaf on Monday. It is believed that Gerrit Zalm, former VVD Finance Minister and former CEO at ABN Amro, will succeed him, according to the newspaper.
Herman Tjeenk Willink
Jun 26 '17 08:37
Jun 21 '17 09:24
PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher officially made his party unavailable for government formation talks. "We are not available to help the engine to a majority", he said after speaking with mediator Herman Tjeenk Willink on Tuesday, according to AD. If the 'engine' of VVD, CDA and D66 still want to rule in a four party majority coalition, the ChristenUnie is the only option left to them.
Jun 20 '17 17:55
The leaders of the VVD, CDA and D66 want the next cabinet to bind "left and right" together, VVD leader and current Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Tuesday afternoon after the three leaders spoke with formation mediator Herman Tjeenk Willink, AD reports.
Jun 16 '17 08:38
The VVD and CDA again firmly stated that they will not work with anti-Islam party PVV and its leader Geert Wilders. Formation negotiator Herman Tjeenk Willink asked VVD leader Mark Rutte and CDA leader Sybrand Buma to put in writing why they will not form a government with Wilders. They dismissed Wilders as untrustworthy and "increasingly radical", the Volkskrant reports
Jun 15 '17 08:38
VVD leader and current Prime Minister Mark Rutte does not see a breakthrough happening in the government formation talks any time soon. In fact, he worries that new elections may be necessary, he said in a live session the VVD hosted on Facebook on Wednesday afternoon, NU.nl reports.
Jun 13 '17 07:55
Government formation talks between the VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks again reached a stalemate, the parties announced on Monday. And the stumbling point was again the policy on asylum seekers.
Jun 8 '17 16:15
In what is believed to be the first substantive progress to government formation in the Netherlands since mid-May, Prime MInister Mark Rutte, the head of the conservative VVD party, is meeting Thursday with political leaders Sybrand Buma (CDA), Alexander Pechtold (D66) and Jesse Klaver (GroenLinks). They will be joined by new coalition mediator Tjeenk Willink, sources have told news agency ANP, the first time the four parties have attempted to break their deadlock in over three weeks.
Jun 8 '17 10:18
VVD leader Mark Rutte and GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver met with mediator Herman Tjeenk Willink at his home on Wednesday in another effort to break through a stalemate that formed around the formation of a new Dutch government. Afterwards neither Klaver nor Rutte would comment on what was discussed, but it is believed that the topic was a restart of negotiations between the VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks, NU.nl reports.
Jun 6 '17 15:30
It's been exactly 11 weeks and five days since the Netherlands' parliamentary election and the country still doesn't have a new government. Formation talks continue today with mediator Herman Tjeenk Willink meeting with the leaders of the VVD, CDA and D66 this afternoon, according to various Dutch newspapers.
Jun 6 '17 10:20
There's been seemingly no movement in the Dutch government formation talks over the past weeks. On Tuesday new mediator Herman Tjeenk Willink is meeting with GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver and ChristenUnie leader Gert-Jan Segers, ANP reports. Either party could be the fourth party that will give the coalition engine of VVD, CDA and D66 a majority in parliament and senate.
Jun 2 '17 10:18
Conversations with new formation mediator Herman Tjeenk Willink on Thursday seems to have reopened the door for GroenLinks to rejoin negotiations with the VVD, CDA and D66. After speaking with Tjeenk Willink on Thursday, GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver emphasized that he will not say no if the mediator wants to explore a restart, the Volkskrant reports.
May 29 '17 12:23
Edith Schippers thinks it is time for a new mediator to be appointed in the government formation talks, she wrote in a final report just submitted to parliament president Khadija Arib, NOS reports. She proposed Herman Tjeenk Willink for the job.
Tjeenk Willink is the former vice president of the Council of State. As mediator his job will be to investigate whether a government can be formed with a majority in both the Tweede Kamer and Eerste Kamer - the lower house of Dutch parliament and the Dutch Senate.
Aug 17 '13 08:45
Prince Johan Friso, who died on Monday, was laid to rest in a small cemetery in Lage Vuursche, a village in the province of Utrecht. The cemetery is located almost directly opposite to the Drakensteyn Castle, where Friso spent his childhood.
