2012 Dutch cabinet formation
However, the monarch was informed about the current political situation and the progress of the formation by her permanent advisors, the speakers of the Senate and House of Representatives and the vice-president of the Council of State.
In 2012, the Netherlands found itself in the aftermath of the credit crisis and had to make significant cuts to limit the national debt.
For the 2013 budget, the Spring Agreement (Dutch: Lenteakkoord) was concluded with Democrats 66 (D66), GroenLinks (GL) and Christian Union (CU).
However, Roemer's debate performance was disappointing, while the recently appointed party leader Diederik Samsom (PvdA) stood out positively.
On 13 September, the intended parliamentary group leaders met with speaker of the House of Representatives Gerdi Verbeet.
[3] That evening Rutte and Samsom spoke again in the Hague apartment of VVD faction leader in the Senate Loek Hermans.
Samsom indicated that he wanted to remain party chairman and put forward Amsterdam alderman Lodewijk Asscher as Deputy Prime Minister.
That same evening, Rutte and Samsom spoke in the Torentje, together with MPs Stef Blok (VVD) and Jeroen Dijsselbloem (PvdA), who would later be their secondants.
They also confirmed their choice of Kamp and former PvdA party leader Wouter Bos as informateurs, something they had already agreed on the morning after the elections.
[4] On 18 September, Kamp published his final report, with the advice to let VVD and PvdA negotiate under the leadership of himself and Bos.
On 20 September, the new House of Representatives debated Kamp's report and agreed to his proposal to appoint himself and Bos as informateurs.
[9] Asscher had asked former GroenLinks party leader Femke Halsema for the position of Minister of Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade.
[9] Despite major objections to the criminalization of illegality in the coalition agreement, the PvdA congress agreed to government participation on 3 November.
[9] Immediately after the announcement of the coalition agreement, there was a fuss about the income-related healthcare premium, led by de Telegraaf and former VVD party leader Hans Wiegel.
During her conversation with the formateur, VVD Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Edith Schippers objected to the change.
The debate on the government statement on 12 and 13 November, which was postponed due to Rutte's foreign commitments and the lack of National Institute for Budget Information [nl] calculations, was still dominated by the issue of the income-related healthcare premium.
Just over a month after being sworn in, PvdA State Secretary Co Verdaas resigned, because he allegedly tampered with travel expense claims during his time as a deputy in Gelderland.
