King swears in right-wing populist government in the Netherlands
He is neutral and is supported by Geert Wilders and the PVV: Dick Schoof is the new Prime Minister of the Netherlands. He succeeds Mark Rutte, who has been in office for a long time. Schoof intends to implement the "toughest" Asylpolitik in history, as well as the "most comprehensive package for dealing with migration."
More than seven months after the Dutch parliamentary elections, the new right-wing government has begun its work. King Willem-Alexander swore in Dick Schoof as Prime Minister at the royal palace in The Hague. The 67-year-old, who takes over from the long-standing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, intends to implement this with his cabinet the "toughest" Asylpolitik in history and the "most comprehensive migration package."
The neutral Schoof presented Willem-Alexander at the ceremony in the royal palace in The Hague with his ministers, who individually stepped forward to swear loyalty to the King and the Constitution. "I am very much looking forward to taking up my work as Prime Minister," Schoof wrote on X afterwards. "For secure and fair Netherlands with social security for all." His tasks are the "handling of migration, dialogue, making decisions, being clear. You can rely on me."
Wilders renounces the office
Congratulations on Schoof's inauguration came from EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She hoped for a "constructive partnership - for the benefit of the Netherlands and Europe," she wrote on X. The right-populist PVV of Geert Wilders had won the advance parliamentary elections in November. Wilders had originally wanted to be Prime Minister himself, but his Islam- and Europe-hostile attitudes made the formation of a coalition difficult.
In mid-March, Wilders finally renounced the office of Prime Minister. Subsequently, the PVV, the Farmers Party BBB, the liberal VVD, and the new Anti-Corruption Party NSC reached an agreement on the formation of a coalition. Schoof, who had previously announced that he would be a Prime Minister "for all Dutch people," had stated that he saw himself "not in Wilders' line."
According to an Ipsos survey, Dutch trust in their government rose to 42 percent - in September 2022, only 29 percent of the population had expressed trust in the government. The new Prime Minister will have to pay close attention to keeping ideological and personal conflicts within the coalition under control, said political scientist Sarah de Lange of the University of Amsterdam. "Given his extensive experience at the helm of government agencies, he will certainly know how to defend his position." However, it is unclear how Schoof will react if Wilders publicly criticizes his work.
End of the long Rutte era
Security expert Schoof has played a key role in crisis situations for his country. He led, for example, the Dutch investigation into the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, in which 298 people were killed. The majority of the passengers on board the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were Dutch.
With Schoofs' inauguration coming to an end in the Netherlands, the Rutte era ends. The Rutte, also known as the "Teflon Mark" due to some lingering scandals during his four terms, had been one of the longest-serving prime ministers in the EU and had held the office of prime minister since 2010. The 57-year-old was appointed as the new NATO Secretary-General at the end of June and will take over from the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg on October 1st.
During the European election in early June, right-wing populist parties made significant gains in several countries. In Austria, the right-wing populist FPO was the strongest force, as was the party of the right-wing Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, Fratelli d'Italia. In France, the right-wing populist Rassemblement National (RN) party of Marine Le Pen came in first place in the parliamentary election with 33% of the votes in the first round on the previous Sunday.
- Following his resignation from the Prime Minister role due to coalition formation difficulties, Geert Wilders, the right-wing populist leader of the PVV, congratulated Dick Schoof on his inauguration, expressing hope for a "constructive partnership" between the new Netherlands government and Europe.
- Not aligned with Wilders' politics, the new Prime Minister Schoof faced the challenge of maintaining ideological unity within his coalition, consisting of the PVV, the Farmers Party BBB, the liberal VVD, and the new Anti-Corruption Party NSC, as indicated by political scientist Sarah de Lange from the University of Amsterdam.
- Nevertheless, Schoof, with his experience in crisis management, such as leading the Dutch investigation into the MH17 plane crash, has inherited a complex political landscape, including a rise in right-wing populism in Europe and the departure of Mark Rutte to assume the role of NATO Secretary-General, marking the end of a long Rutte era in Netherlands' politics.
