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Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday before the crucial meeting
Photo: PHIL NIJHUIS / EPA
Nine months after the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, the four-party coalition led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte is about to re-launch: On Monday evening, Rutte's center-right party VVD, the center-left party D66, the Christian Democratic party CDA and the conservative Christian Democratic Party came to an agreement. Union on a coalition agreement.
This was reported by the ANP news agency, citing a spokesman for the two negotiators.
For Rutte it is the fourth government under his leadership.
With a total of 271 days, the coalition negotiations were the longest in the country's history.
The previous record was 225 days: that's how long it took in 2017 until Rutte's cabinet could be sworn in.
Former Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag, whose D66 came in second behind Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the election in mid-March, had long spoken out against renewed participation by the Christian Union in a coalition.
However, at the end of September she gave in.
Child benefits scandal forced Rutte's government to resign
Rutte's government announced its resignation in January due to a scandal over child benefits, but remained in office. Authorities had wrongly accused thousands of parents of child benefit fraud, and recovered funds that had left many families in dire straits. According to the research report, around 10,000 families had to repay tens of thousands of euros in daycare grants between 2013 and 2019. They were wrongly accused of fraud. The investigative commission found a failure at all levels: "The basic principles of the rule of law have been violated." The parents had been done "unprecedented injustice".
Rutte has led three coalition governments since 2010, making him the second longest-serving head of government in the EU after the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
In the Netherlands, the 54-year-old is also known as the "Teflon Prime Minister" because he has already survived several scandals and votes of no confidence.
slü / AFP