2010 Dutch cabinet formation
[1] The day after the elections, queen Beatrix met with her permanent advisors; the chairmen of the Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively René van der Linden and Gerdi Verbeet, and the vice president of the Council of State, Herman Tjeenk Willink.
[3] Rosenthal and later informateurs were assisted by advisors - including Kajsa Ollongren - and the director of the Government Information Service Henk Brons [nl].
[5] Rosenthal then entered into separate discussions with Rutte, Verhagen, PvdA-leader Job Cohen, D66-leader Alexander Pechtold and GroenLinks-leader Femke Halsema to explore a coalition with their parties.
After these failed attempts, Rosenthal sent his final report on 25 June in which he recommended appointing a VVD and a PvdA informateur to find options for a cabinet within the 'broad political centre'.
[7] Following Rosenthal's final report, the queen was advised on 25 June by the parliamentary leaders of 'the broad centre' (VVD, PvdA, CDA, D66, GroenLinks).
That same evening, the queen appointed Herman Tjeenk Willink as informateur with the task of informing her "at short notice about the steps that need to be taken to achieve the formation of a cabinet that can count on fruitful cooperation with the States General".
Verhagen reiterated that VVD and PVV first had to jointly agree on Wilders' positions such as "head rag tax, the banning of the Koran and the fight against Islam" before CDA joined.
Agreement was also reached on reforms to the tax system, labour dismissal law, the Dutch Unemployment Act and cuts in housing construction and defense.
[16] However, further relaxation of the labour dismissal law and reform of the home mortgage interest deduction were blocked by PvdA and VVD respectively, as a result of which negotiations stalled.
Nevertheless, in consultation with Rutte, Lubbers published a statement immediately after the conversation with Verhagen that VVD, PVV and CDA had to negotiate with each other about a tolerating cabinet without his presence.
[18] In the statement, Lubbers himself noted that the confidence and supply construction did not fall within his assignment, which led to criticism from a number of parliamentary leaders.
On 24 July, despite their objections, the CDA parliamentary group unanimously gave the green light for informal talks with Rutte and Wilders.
His assignment was to "initiate research into the rapid establishment of a stable cabinet of VVD and CDA that, with the support of PVV, can count on fruitful cooperation with the States General."
In the negotiations, the party leaders were accompanied by members of the House of Representatives Edith Schippers (VVD) and Ab Klink (CDA), and MEP Barry Madlener (PVV).
Within the parliamentary group these were MPs Kathleen Ferrier and Ad Koppejan and candidate MP Jan Schinkelshoek who was already allowed to attend party meetings.
[21] Sometimes candidate MP Jack Biskop, Senator Rob van de Beeten and former minister Cees Veerman also took part in the discussions.
[22] Outside the Java Council, there was criticism within the CDA towards cooperation with the PVV, including by former Prime Ministers Dries van Agt and Piet de Jong.
[23] There was resistance within the VVD, including from former ministers Joris Voorhoeve, Gijs de Vries, Pieter Winsemius and former Speaker of the House Frans Weisglas, but this remained limited compared to CDA.
During the day, Schinkelhoek announced that he would renounce his parliamentary seat and Ferrier and Koppejan wrote in a letter that a coalition with the support of the PVV was no longer an option for them.
The three also had to visit Minister of Social Affairs Piet Hein Donner, who demanded that they sign a statement to commit themselves to the announced CDA congress, which they refused.
Klink's letter had now been leaked and after a meeting the parliamentary group announced that there were "major objections", but that they could be removed "based on the content of the outcome of the negotiations".
On 4 September, Opstelten delivered his final report, in which he concluded that a stable cabinet of VVD and CDA with support from PVV had not proven possible.
Verhagen confirmed after the parliamentary group meeting that "something has certainly changed due to the departure of Mr Klink", but it was still too early for Wilders to reopen negotiations.
[26] Although it became clear during a debate on 7 September that there was a majority in favor of continuing the negotiations between VVD, CDA and PVV, the queen had already sought advice from the party leaders before Wilders' turn.
However, when Rutte refused, Tjeenk Willink was again appointed informateur to "inform at the shortest possible time about the current situation and the steps that need to be taken".
[28] In his final report, Tjeenk Willink recommended resuming negotiations with VVD, PVV and CDA under the leadership of informateur Opstelten, which was taken over by the queen the same day.
They called their supporters Schinkelshoek, Van de Beeten and Hirsch Ballin, while Camiel Eurlings arrived to reportedly calm Verhagen.
Bijleveld, Bleker and party board member Tony de Bos occasionally visited the two dissidents to present new joint draft statements.
At a quarter to four in the morning, Verhagen spoke to the press to report that 'the vast majority' agreed, and that the entire parliamentary group would give the congress a heavy weight in the final decision.
Shortly after taking office in June, CDA party chairman Bleker had announced a conference where members could vote on government participation.
