New Dutch gov't led by PM Mark Rutte sworn in 299 days after election

Almost one year after the resignation of the previous government and ten months after the last elections, the fourth cabinet of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was sworn in on Monday by Dutch King Willem-Alexander.

Just like the previous one, the new coalition government consists of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of Rutte, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the center-leftist party Democrats 66 (D66) and the smaller centrist party the Christian Union (CU).

According to Rutte, his new group of ministers is not comparable with the previous one and has "new impetus." One of the new faces is the new Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Ernst Kuipers on behalf of D66. Until now, he was the CEO of the Erasmus Medical Center and the chairman of the National Emergency Medicine Network (LNAZ).

Kuipers succeeds Hugo de Jonge, who, as health minister, has led the Dutch COVID-19 policy over the past two years. De Jonge (CDA) moves to the new post of Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning.

In addition, Rob Jetten (D66) takes on the new post of Minister of Climate and Energy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Sigrid Kaag will be the new finance minister and Wopke Hoekstra moves from the Ministry of Finance to be the new foreign minister.

Kaag was not present at the inauguration on Monday as the D66 leader had to stay at home due to a positive COVID-19 test. So the king swore Kaag in via video link, which happened for the first time in Dutch history.

The former government with the same four parties stepped down on Jan. 15, 2021 as a result of the so-called child benefits tax scandal, in which innocent parents were wrongly accused of fraud. Since that time the government served as a caretaker government.

From March 15 to 17, 2021 the general elections took place, in which Rutte's VVD came out as the winner with 34 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives, or the lower house of the parliament. D66 ended second with 24 seats in parliament. Together with CDA (15 seats) and CU (five seats), the new government has a majority of 78 seats.

After long, difficult negotiations, the parties reached an agreement on Dec. 13, 2021. Now, 299 days since March 17, the new government was installed. It was the longest formation in Dutch history, breaking the record of 225 formation days before the inauguration of the previous government in 2017.

According to tradition, the new ministers took an oath, promising their allegiance to the Dutch constitution and to discharge their duties faithfully. After the swearing in, the ministers were traditionally photographed together, this time on the steps of Noordeinde Palace in the Hague. Normally, that photo is taken at the Huis ten Bosch Palace, but there was too little space there to comply with the COVID-19 rules.

For the first time in parliamentary history, the government has exactly as many female and male ministers. Before that, men were in the majority. Later on Monday afternoon, the team of a total of 20 ministers will gather for their first real meeting of the Council of Ministers.