223 days after the Dutch general elections, the new team of ministers are being sworn in today in the Hague.
King Willem-Alexander is swearing in 16 ministers and 13 state secretaries in the Huis ten Bosch Palace, including the new Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof, reports the NOS.
Schoof succeeds Mark Rutte, who was prime minister of the Netherlands for 14 years.
So, who is the new prime minister and who’s in the new cabinet?
Schoof’s in
Schoof is officially taking on the mantle of Dutch prime minister, after serving as the highest official at the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security.
READ MORE | Here’s a breakdown of the new right-wing Dutch coalition agreement
He was formerly affiliated with the PvdA (Labour Party) but is serving as an independent PM from the current coalition and cabinet.
The Schoof cabinet is full of new faces, with the PVV (Geert Wilders’ party) providing five ministers, the VVD (Rutte’s party) and NSC (Pieter Omtzigt’s party) providing four ministers, and the BBB (Caroline van der Plas’ party) providing two ministers.
You can check out each post (in Dutch) over here.
Swearing in and hand over
From 10 AM today, each minister will be sworn in by the King one by one, followed by the state secretaries in order of seniority (for example, the Foreign Affairs minister has been around longer than the Climate minister).
At around 11 AM, Prime Minister Schoof and his cabinet will pose for their official platform photo.
Zet ‘m op, Dick #Schoof #premier #bordesscene voor @DeGroene pic.twitter.com/tpnYVrzTmc
— Joep Bertrams (@joepbertrams) July 1, 2024
The Rutte IV ministers will then hand over their files and portfolios to the new ministers, and the first ministerial council is scheduled for this afternoon
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