This article was originally published in English
The new ministers and state secretaries were sworn in before Dutch King Willem-Alexander at the Royal Palace Huis ten Bosch in The Hague on Tuesday.
Former spy chief Dick Schoof was sworn in as the new Dutch prime minister on Tuesday, leading a right-wing and far-right coalition cabinet that promises to implement the country’s toughest immigration policy ever.
The 67-year-old independent succeeded the Prime Minister Mark Ruttewho will be the new Secretary General of NATO in the autumn, after having held the post for 14 years.
The handover comes after more than seven months of protracted negotiations following far-right leader Geert Wilders’ election victory last November. Mr Wilders had to give up his ambition to become prime minister to keep tense coalition negotiations on track.
His government partners considered his anti-Islam and Eurosceptic statements too extreme to lead the nation.
Instead of seeing their leader run for Prime Minister, the four coalition partners – Mr Wilders’ PVV (Freedom Party), the pro-farmers BBB, the liberal-conservative VVD and the new anti-corruption NSC – have agreed to compromise with Mr Schoof, who previously headed the Dutch secret service.
Dick Schoof pledged to “decisively” implement the coalition’s plans, namely “the strictest asylum admissions policy ever adopted and the most comprehensive package to control immigration.”
Geert Wilders’ party won five of the fifteen ministerial posts of the new government, including trade and immigration.
