There was little progress towards forming a new coalition government on Thursday, two weeks after the general election.

The leaders of the Liberal democrats D66 and GroenLinks both had talks with coalition negotiator Uri Rosenthal and reiterated their backing for the ‘purple plus’ variant, a combination with the VVD and Labour.
‘[VVD leader Mark] Rutte must make a choice,’ GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema said after her meeting. ‘It is time for serious negotiations.’
Right wing
But Labour leader Job Cohen told a tv show on Wednesday evening he believes Rosenthal should take a second serious look at the option of forming a right-wing cabinet between the VVD Liberals, Christian Democrats and Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam PVV.
Last week, talks on forming a coalition between the three parties collapsed.
CDA leader Maxime Verhagen had refused to join in until the VVD and Wilders had agreed their position on a number of key areas. These include ethnic registration, a tax on Muslim headscarves and economic policy.
Verhagen said again on Thursday he is open to talks with the two parties when the VVD and PVV reach agreement. ‘I have never withdrawn that offer and I have repeated it four times,’ the Telegraaf quotes Verhagen as saying.

Queen
RTL news correspondent Frits Wester says queen Beatrix is becoming concerned about the lack of progress and the fact that Rosenthal is running out of options.
Wester said the queen has already invited a number of senior politicians to discuss events, including former prime minister Ruud Lubbers.