Dutch politicians 'ready to form government' 208 days after election

Nearly seven months after they voted in an election on 15 March, Dutch voters are to get a new government this week, local media have reported.

The prime minister, Mark Rutte, is expected to present a rocky four-party coalition to parliament on Monday, 208 days after his liberal VVD party won the March polls.

If approved by MPs, the government’s plans will be officially presented on Tuesday – making the negotiations the longest to form a new government in modern Dutch history. "We will all go to our political groups, but I think there is a good agreement to form a government,” Rutte told reporters in The Hague.

But cementing a stable marriage between Rutte’s business-friendly VVD, the progressive D66 and two Christian parties, the relatively moderate CDA and the far more conservative Christian Union, may prove challenging.

D66 is pro-choice, pro-LGBT rights and pro-EU, and wants pioneering Dutch euthanasia laws extended so that not just terminally ill patients can decide to end their lives. The Christian Union opposes the euro, abortion, same-sex marriage and euthanasia.

Nonetheless, agreement on the government’s key policies – on tax, sick pay, welfare payments for refugees, and defence and education spending – has reportedly been reached.

The new coalition will have a majority of just one in the fragmented 13-party, 150-seat Dutch parliament and its ability to survive a four-year term is likely to prove the toughest test yet of Rutte’s consensus-building skills.

Now entering his third term, the prime minister has governed with the support of the far-right, anti-Islam Geert Wilders and in a coalition with the centre-left Labour party (PvdA), which suffered heavy losses in March.

His conciliation efforts fell short during an initial attempt immediately after the vote to form a coalition involving the eco-friendly Green-Left party. Talks collapsed after the parties failed to agree on immigration policy.

Once approved by parliament, the new government’s plans will be finalised and the cabinet appointed – another potentially delicate process that, all being well, should be completed by the week of 23 October.

The average length of time taken to form a ruling coalition in modern Dutch history is 72 days, with the previous record of 207 days dating back to 1977. Neighbouring Belgium, however, holds the current world record: it took 541 days to form a federal government in Brussels after the 2010 election.

The Dutch economy, at least, has not suffered from the wait: with Rutte’s previous coalition in charge in a caretaker capacity, GDP has grown by a healthy 3.3% this year and is forecast to grow at a rate of 2.5% in 2018.