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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte gets fourth term under new government 

The coalition formation process took a record-breaking 273 days, surpassing the previous record set by the same four parties when they took 225 days to form a government following the 2017 election.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) — Nine months after national elections and nearly a year after the Dutch cabinet resigned in scandal, Prime Minister Mark Rutte is set to begin his fourth term as the head of a four-party coalition government. 

Rutte’s conservative VVD party, the pro-European D66, the center-right Christian Democratic Appeal and centrist Christian Union – the same four parties that made up the previous governing coalition – have again negotiated a deal to form the next Dutch government. 

Called a coalition accord, a 47-page plan outlines the group’s political plans, including tax cuts, an experiment with regulated marijuana production and hiking the minimum wage.

“It took a long time, but the result is good,” Rutte told reporters during a presentation of the agreement Wednesday, appearing with the leaders of the three other parties. He has been serving as the country’s caretaker prime minister since stepping down with the rest of the government amidst a child care benefits scandal in January. 

During marathon negotiations, the four parties struggled to find common ground on a range of issues. D66 was unwilling to compromise on the cannabis cultivation pilot - which would allow marijuana to be grown legally in the country, upending the current scheme under which it is only legal to sell under certain conditions - but the CDA was deeply opposed to it and demanded more money for policing in exchange. Medical ethics, including research on embryos, was another difficult subject, with the Christian Union opposed to liberalizations of existing regulations. The government also wants to see child care offered for free and the introduction of a road tax. 

The plan is widely seen as an attempt to restore trust in government, which Rutte said was low. It calls for a “clearer separation” between parliament and the cabinet, which have different responsibilities in the Dutch system. Under previous Rutte administrations, there were accusations that the line between the two had become blurred.

Trust has also been eroded by an ongoing scandal over allowances, in which 30,000 Dutch families were wrongly accused of benefits fraud, in some cases losing homes and jobs as a result. The new coalition accord proposes to overhaul the old system. 

Wednesday’s announcement follows a Tuesday evening press conference where the caretaker government announced elementary schools will close for the Christmas holiday a week early to curb rising Covid-19 infections, as well as a month-long extension of existing measures. Currently, nonessential shops in the country must close between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m. and face masks are required in indoor spaces. 

Support for the government’s pandemic plan is at an all-time low, with research from earlier in the week showing only 16% of the population thinks the approach is correct. Infections and hospitalizations have been on the rise, as they have across most of Europe, though the numbers have slowed in recent days. 

Opposition politicians expressed their displeasure with the outcome of the coalition formation process.

“I have a lot of doubts whether this coalition will live up to the great words in the coalition agreement,” Green Left party leader Jesse Klaver said on Twitter.

Although the plan creates a $40 billion transition fund to move away from fossil fuels, Klaver says the government isn’t aggressive enough in curbing emissions from agriculture and air travel. Others cite a lack of ideas about international relations in the agreement and question whether it adequately addresses the problems of rising home prices. 

The coalition agreement will go before parliament on Thursday and it is expected to pass, as the four parties hold 78 seats in the 150 legislative body. Over the Christmas holiday, Rutte will put together his cabinet, which is expected to be finalized by the second week of January. 

The coalition formation process took a record-breaking 273 days, surpassing the previous record of 225 days set by the same four parties in 2017.

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Categories / Government, International, Politics

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