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.

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.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.

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.