Who will join the new Dutch cabinet? the papers start naming names

Halbe Zijlstra, current leader of the VVD’s parliamentary party, is set to join the new cabinet as foreign affairs minister, the Telegraaf said on Monday.

Zijlstra was closely involved in the negotiations to form a new Dutch government and was known to have wanted a cabinet job.

The paper also says that Eric Wiebes, currently junior finance minister with special responsibility for the tax office, will get the economic affairs job.

That appointment has raised eyebrows in The Hague, given that the department will be expanded with responsibility for climate-related issues and had seemed a cert for either D66 or ChristenUnie.

The Financieele Dagblad said at the weekend that CDA senator Wopke Hoekstra is likely to get the finance ministry job. The finance post traditionally goes to the second biggest party in the coalition.

Hoekstra is also a consultant at McKinsey and was a main author of the CDA’s election manifesto.

Also at the weekend it emerged that defence minister Jeanine Hennis would not join the next cabinet. She resigned earlier this month following a damning report on the state of the armed forces.

Hennis said on Twitter that she had decided to return to parliament as an MP, to put an end to all the speculation about her future.

Prime minister Mark Rutte hopes to present his new cabinet to the public on October 26.