Dutch leftist-liberal, Christian Democratic and right-wing-liberal parties wish to negotiate setting up a ruling minority coalition, Sybrand Buma, the former politician appointed by parliament to supervise the process, said on Monday.
The three parties should seek a basis for a "stable government," he said almost six weeks after parliamentary elections were held.
Buma has spent three weeks assessing the options for a coalition along with the left-liberal Democrats 66 (D66), which emerged the largest party, and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). The parties have drafted principles for a coalition.
In his concluding report, he called for talks with other parties, but added that he currently saw "no possibility of a coalition with a stable majority in parliament."
In a hi…
Dutch leftist-liberal, Christian Democratic and right-wing-liberal parties wish to negotiate setting up a ruling minority coalition, Sybrand Buma, the former politician appointed by parliament to supervise the process, said on Monday.
The three parties should seek a basis for a "stable government," he said almost six weeks after parliamentary elections were held.
Buma has spent three weeks assessing the options for a coalition along with the left-liberal Democrats 66 (D66), which emerged the largest party, and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). The parties have drafted principles for a coalition.
In his concluding report, he called for talks with other parties, but added that he currently saw "no possibility of a coalition with a stable majority in parliament."
In a highly fragmented parliament, the D66 headed by Rob Jetten needs at least three coalition partners for a majority. The process has proved difficult, with 15 parties holding seats. Forming the last coalition after the elections in 2023 took seven months.
The right-wing liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) has now said it will enter into talks on the basis of the principles agreed by the D66 and the CDA. This constellation would have 66 of the 150 seats in the lower house, governing with shifting support from the opposition parties.
The VVD refuses to enter coalition with the GreenLeft-Labour alliance, even though a grand coalition of these parties would have a stable majority.
The anti-immigrant Party for Freedom (PVV) of populist firebrand Geert Wilders came second in the elections.
All the established parties have refused to work with him on the grounds of his policies.
The PVV entered government for the first time after the 2023 elections, but Wilders brought the four-way right-wing coalition down by withdrawing its members from the Cabinet.