Liberal leader Mark Rutte said on Monday that all options are open on forming a new coalition government in the Netherlands, as the talks moved into the next phase.

‘My preference is for a cabinet with the CDA, VVD and PvdA, but I am blocking nothing, not right, centre or left,’ Rutte said after meeting new cabinet negotiator Herman Tjeenk Willink.
Tjeenk Willink began holding talks with party leaders on Monday, after being asked to take over the process by queen Beatrix on Friday.
Two negotiators
The previous negotiator Uri Rosenthal had recommended the queen appoint two negotiators, one Labour and one Liberal, to work on a cross party cabinet.
However, Beatrix has opted for one Labour negotiator to conduct an intermediary phase after Rosenthal reached a stalemate.
Now Tjeenk Willink, deputy chairman of the government’s Council of State advisory body, has been asked by the queen to ‘find out about the steps which need to be taken to form a cabinet which can count on a fruitful alliance with parliament’.
Tjeenk Willink said his job is to ask party leaders who they think can lead the next stage of the talks, not to begin negotiations.
According to the NRC, two options are on the cards: a left-centre-right coalition between the VVD, CDA and PvdA, possibly with either D66 or GroenLinks; and the ‘purple plus’ variant made up of the two Liberal parties, Labour and GroenLinks.
Scandal
Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam PVV has been excluded from the next round of coalition talks. This is a ‘scandal’ and ‘insult to the voter,’ a furious Wilders told reporters. The PVV won 24 seats, or 15% of the votes, in the general election.
Labour, GroenLinks and D66 all made it clear before the election they would not join a cabinet which included the PVV.
Socialist party leader Erik Roemer has also written to Tjeenk Willink, asking to be invited to talks to discuss the formation of a left-of-centre coalition.