Cabinet formation talks between the Christian Democrats, right-wing VVD Liberals and anti-Islam PVV are continuing on Friday after CDA leader Maxime Verhagen said he would not call a halt to assess the progress so far.

On Thursday it emerged former prime minister Ruud Lubbers had written to Verhagen urging him to instigate ‘time out’ from the talks to allay the fears of many senior party members.
‘I respect Ruud Lubbers’, Verhagen said on Thursday evening. ‘And I am sure we will come up with good results which will allow me to convince him.’
Freedom
Many CDA members are unhappy at the prospect of an alliance with Geert Wilders’ PVV because the party wants to ban the Koran and close Islamic schools. The CDA supports freedom of religion and education.
The party has agreed to submit any coalition agreement to a members’ congress for its approval.
Nos tv reported on Thursday night the negotiators hope to be able to submit their plans to cut government spending by €18bn to the CPB economic forecasting agency for its assessment next week.
This means the earliest the CDA could hold its emergency congress is Saturday, September 11 when Wilders is due to speak out against the building of an Islamic cultural centre near Ground Zero in New York.