Prime Minister Shouf has space for his own session

Prime Minister-designate Dick Schauff will be given the space to come up with policy himself, Peter Umtzigt (National Security Council) said on WNL op Zondag. The detailed agreement has been detailed on topics such as migration, justice, good governance or agriculture, but on other topics such as education or health care, there is still room for Schoof to chart his own course, according to Umtzigt.

Schoof will be looking for a ministerial team with coordinator Richard van Zoll in the near future. These ministers will continue to develop the coalition agreement. “The Prime Minister, along with the four Deputy Prime Ministers, has a leadership role in this matter.”

Umtzigt stresses that the policy requires a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The coalition parties have agreed to conclude less stringent coalition agreements, thus leaving more space for Parliament. In theory, it is also possible to change the majority, supported for example by opposition parties.

In his first press conference, Schoof said that he would basically implement what the four coalition parties – the Party for Freedom, the Party for Freedom and Democracy, the National Security Council and the BPP – came up with. He denied that he would walk “restrained” by Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders. He did not want to say to what extent he felt connected to a government that included an extreme right-wing party.