The compromise reached by the departing government on increasing teachers' salaries, is still on shaky ground. The VVD and PvdA reached an agreement, but formation parties CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie are reluctant to give the go-ahead, AD reports.
Sybrand Buma
Aug 25 '17 10:20
The current government plans to make more money available for teacher salaries, primary school education and Defense in a compromise to solve a conflict about teacher salaries between the VVD and PvdA, Prime Minister and VVD leader Mark Rutte confirmed. Though he stressed that there is no deal yet, NU.nl reports.
Aug 18 '17 08:01
Spain was hit by two terrorist attacks. The first in Barcelona on Thursday afternoon, the second in Cambrils during the early hours of Friday morning. Thirteen people were killed and over 100 others were injured, including three Dutch, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed. Their condition is not life threatening, NOS reports.
The attack in Barcelona happened around 5:00 p.m. A van drove onto the Ramblas, crashing into dozens of people. Thirteen people were killed and over 100 ended up in hospital, including the three Dutch. The perpetrators fled.
Aug 16 '17 08:26
The four parties currently negotiating forming a new Dutch government together want to obligate schools to teach their students the text, meaning and melody of the Wilhelmus, the Dutch national anthem, AD reports based on a draft text of the government agreement the newspaper managed to get hold of.
Aug 15 '17 08:02
The four parties negotiating forming a new Dutch government together reached a compromise on medical ethics issues, AD reports based on a draft text for the government agreement. It says that the government will not make any proposals to expand the euthanasia law to allow assisted suicide for elderly people at the end of a full life, but will make more stem cell research possible, according to the newspaper.
Aug 10 '17 08:55
The end of the Dutch government formation talks between the VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie is not yet in sight, the party leaders confirmed on Wednesday following the first day of talks after the summer vacation.
Aug 9 '17 09:08
After a break of almost three weeks, the VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie are meeting today to continue negotiating forming a government together. It's now been 144 days since the government formation talks began. On average, formation talks last 90 days, RTL Nieuws reports.
Jul 20 '17 09:28
Negotiators for the VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie seemed carefully optimistic that the government formation talks will come to a good conclusion when they pick up again after the summer break. There is good hope, mediator Gerrit Zalm said after the negotiators parted ways for a two week long break on Wednesday, AD reports.
Jul 19 '17 09:23
Today is the 126th day of government formation talks in the Netherlands. And while the formation still seems to be far from over, progress is being made. The financial part of the formation is going so well, that mediator Gerrit Zalm hopes to have this phase finished today, BNR reports.
Once the financial part is complete, the documents can be sent to central planning office CPB to be checked over and credited, and the negotiators can break for summer holiday.
Jul 12 '17 09:49
After a week and a half of negotiations, the VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie have made little progress in forming a new Dutch government together, according to D66 leader Alexander Pechtold. The talks moved by centimeters, rather than meters, he said after Tuesday's negotiations in the Johan de Witthuis in The Hague, NU.nl reports.
Jul 10 '17 13:30
The Dutch government formation talks are continuing this week, but not on the Binnenhof. On Monday and Tuesday the leaders of the VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie, and their seconds, will be negotiating in the Johan de Witthuis, a few hundred meters away from their regular meeting place, AD reports.
Mediator Gerrit Zalm hopes that a change of scenery wil bring some new inspiration.
Jun 29 '17 16:00
New government formation mediator Gerrit Zalm plans to address the big issues first in the negotiations. Next week the VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie will discuss medical-ethics, a point on which the D66 and ChristenUnie have major differences.
Jun 28 '17 09:40
PVV leader Geert Wilders' legislative proposal to give intelligence service AIVD the power to detain potential terrorists for six months as a precaution, was met with criticism by other parliamentary parties. Human rights organization Amnesty called the PVV proposal a "frontal attack on the rule of law", according to NOS.
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 14 '17 09:12
GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver had to defend himself from all sides in a parliamentary debate about the stalled government formation talks between his party and the VVD, CDA and D66. "We will not send anyone back to countries where it is unsafe", Klaver said in the Tweede Kamer. But the other party leaders did not seem to be buying it, 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.
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.
May 26 '17 16:45
VVD leader and current prime minister Mark Rutte is open to restarting government formation talks with the 'engine' of VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks, but only if green leader Jesse Klaver is willing to come to the table without setting any conditions in advance. Klaver sees no point in continuing the negotiations if the VVD and CDA are not willing to compromise on the immigration and asylum seekers policy, NU.nl reports.
May 25 '17 12:00
After weeks of "only" being the VVD leader at the government formation talks, current Prime Minister Mark Rutte now seems to be taking the lead in attempting to pull the negotiations out of their current impasse. On Wednesday he had one-on-one meetings with D66 leader Alexander Pechtold and CDA leader Sybrand Buma, AD reports.
May 24 '17 17:45
Edith Schipers, the mediator in the Dutch government formation talks, plans to contniue exploring to find the best way to form the new Dutch government, despite the current impasse. She asked the party leaders to keep themselves available for meetings on Friday, Schippers reported to Tweede Kamer presidend Khadija Arib on Wednesday, NU.nl reports.
May 24 '17 08:10
The D66 will not accept the invitiation to talk with the VVD, CDA and ChristenUnie on forming a government together, the party announced during the early hours of Wednesday morning. A failed discussion with the ChristenUnie on Tuesday showed that the two parties can't bridge their differences and further negotiations "would not be sensible", the party said, according to ANP.
May 18 '17 07:48
Christian party CDA and democrats D66 called on socialist party SP to join them and liberal VVD in negotiations to form a new Dutch government together. During the election campaign SP leader Emile Roemer insisted that his party will not work with the VVD.
CDA leader Sybrand Buma called on Roemer to get off the sidelines, in the parliamentary debate about the failed formation attempt between the VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks on Wednesday. "Have the guts to start the negotiations", he said in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, NU.nl reports.
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