New Rightwing Dutch cabinet takes office

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www.dutchnews.nl/2024/07/new-dutch-cabinet-formally-takes-office-after-being-sworn-in/

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The old (former) Prime Minister Mark Rutte gave the key of the Prime Minister office to the New Prime Minister Dick Schoof of the New Rightwing, Conservative government coalition and administration, the PVV-VVD-NSC-BBB coalition with in it conservatives and Far right populists of the PVV (Geert Wilders Freedom Party). The Prime Minister’s office is called the Little Tower (het torentje in Dutch) and is situated in the Cathouse (het Katshuis) next to the old House of Representatives building (the parliaments building) at the Inner Court (het Binnenhof) in The Hague.



The Binnenhof (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɪnə(n)ˌɦɔf]; English: Inner Court) is a complex of buildings in the city centre of The Hague, Netherlands, next to the Hofvijver (Court Pond). It houses the meeting place of both houses of the States General of the Netherlands, as well as the Ministry of General Affairs and the office of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Built primarily in the 13th century, the Gothic castle originally functioned as residence of the counts of Holland and became the political centre of the Dutch Republic in 1584. It is counted among the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites. The Binnenhof is among the oldest Parliament buildings in the world still in use.

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Dutch Rightwing to Far Right conservative government sworn in after Wilders election win

39 minutes ago
By Anna Holligan, BBC News, The Hague


The new Prime Minister Dick Schoof (left) took over from the former Prime Minister Mark Rutte (right) at a ceremony on Tuesday

By the signing of a royal decree, the new right-wing Dutch government has become a reality.

Defying analysts’ expectations, it swept to power on a crescendo of discontent that has boosted anti-immigration parties across the continent.

High cost of living, environmental issues, and a perceived failure to manage the asylum system were some of the key issues ahead of the November 2023 election.

After months of political wrangling, an agreement was reached for the new Dutch government to be led by a surprise pick - the former head of the Dutch intelligence service, Dick Schoof.

Mr Schoof was the fifth person approached to preside over the eclectic coalition, and among the few palatable candidates for all four parties.

He pushed back a planned retirement to take over from Mark Rutte, the Netherlands longest serving prime minister who has packed his cardboard boxes in preparation for a move to Brussels to take over as the new NATO Secretary General.


Geert Wilders' far-right Freedom Party won most seats in the November elections

The coalition Mr Schoof will govern includes Geert Wilders' anti-immigration, far-right PVV as the largest party.

The other members of the coalition will be the conservative-liberal (conservative) VVD, the rightwing Populist Farmers' Citizen Movement (BBB) and the new-to-government centrist (Center Right, Social Conservative) New Social Contract which promised to restore public trust in politics.

The VVD and New Social Contract parties have pledged to ensure Mr Wilders’ populist right is kept in check - and Mr Wilders has been forced to water down his party's most extreme policies in order to keep the three other coalition parties on board.

Pledges to ban the Quran, close Dutch borders and hold a referendum on the Netherlands future within the EU have been put on ice, along with Mr Wilders' own prime ministerial ambitions.

Yet, as leader of the largest party within the coalition, he is still expected to be one of the most influential politicians in parliament.

As the new government takes power, three new ministries have been created, to allow each coalition party to install one of its own politicians in the field in which it places the greatest importance.

BBB has been given the housing ministry, VVD the climate and green growth ministry, and Mr Wilders’ PVV the immigration ministry.

Mr Wilders initial choice for immigration minister Gidi Markuszower - an MP since 2017 - was vetoed by parliament, after he failed to pass intelligence service security checks. Previously, in 2010, he had to withdraw as a PVV candidate for parliament after it emerged he had been flagged up by the intelligence service as a “risk to the integrity of the Netherlands”.

The second choice, Marjolein Faber, has come under scrutiny over her endorsement of the racist Great Replacement conspiracy theory which claims elites are importing migrants to replace the white majority.

Elsewhere, the new agriculture minister is Femke Wiersma, who found fame more than a decade ago on the country's popular "Farmer seeks Wife" reality TV show.

She has since joined the Farmer Citizen Movement (BBB) which has spearheaded an uprising among farmers outraged by the previous government and EU plans to curb their activities to achieve ambitious climate targets.


The triumph of rightwing populist farmer party BBB in the 2023 provincial elections stunned even its leader, Caroline van der Plas

In the 2023 provincial elections, BBB stunned Dutch politics by securing almost 20% of the vote.

The European Union will be watching with trepidation to see how the new Dutch government responds to multiple challenges, including immigration and the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

While right wing parties in France are following this historic moment in the Netherlands with a sense of anticipation that the political pendulum is poised to swing in their direction- ahead of the second round of the French election on 7th July.

Geert Wilders promised to make the Netherlands number one, and the Dutch are about to find out what that means.

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The Schoof cabinet was sworn in this morning at the Royal Huis ten Bosch Palace. The new cabinet is formed by PVV (Geert Wilders Freedom party, the largest party of the Netherlands), the conservative VVD, the center right Social Conservative new party NSC (of former dissident Christian Democratic CDA politician Pieter Omtzigt) and the rightwing Populist Farmers party BBB (of Caroline van der Plas) and consists of 16 ministers and 13 state secretaries.

The swearing-in ceremony before Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands marks the official start of the Schoof cabinet of the new Prime Minister and former Dutch secret service (AIVD) chief Dick Schoof.

Geert Wilders Freedom Party (PVV) will provide 5 ministers and 4 state secretaries to the new cabinet. The conservative VVD provides 4 ministers and 3 state secretaries. The center right Social conservative NSC (New Social Contract) provides 4 ministers and 3 state secretaries. And the rightwing Populist Farmers party BBB 2 ministers and 3 state secretaries.

State Secretary Teun Struycken is in the cabinet on the recommendation of NSC, but is not a member of this party. Prime Minister Schoof is also non-partisan.

Fleur Hagema, vice prime minister, Minister of Health



Marie-Fleur Agema (born 16 September 1976) is the first Dutch politician and former spatial designer currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport in the First Schoof cabinet. Agema previously served as a member of the House of Representatives for the Party for Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders between 30 November 2006 and 2 July 2024.

Biography

Early life

Agema was born in Purmerend, and her parents ran a business in the hospitality industry. She has a BA degree from the AKI ArtEZ University of the Arts in 1999, an MA degree in Architecture from the Academy of Architecture of the Amsterdam University of the Arts in 2001, and an MA degree in Fine Art from the Utrecht School of the Arts in 2004. From 1999 to 2003 she worked as a spatial designer and project leader for an architectural firm.

Politics

In March 2003 she was elected to the States-Provincial of North Holland, as a member of the rightwing populist, Republican (anti-Monarchist), Fortuynist, Eurosceptic Pim Fortuyn List. On 17 October 2003 she said had lost confidence in the governing board of the Pim Fortuyn List with two other State members of the Pim Fortuyn List. In 2004 she left the party, because of dissatisfaction with the continuing internal dispute. She continued as a member of the States-Provincial as an Independent. In 2004, she was a founding member of the Rightwing Populist Fortuynist Forza! Nederland party alongside former Pim Fortuyn List politician Paul Meijer, however she left shortly after its founding to join the Far right, Rightwing Populist Party for Freedom of Geert Wilders. In this same year she was also noted as being active on the neo-Nazi internet forum Stormfront which uses the slogan “White Pride World Wide.”


Fleur Agema was a member of the Rightwing Populist LPF party of the assassinated Rightwing Populist Politician Pim Fortuyn (1948 – 2002)





In 2006 she was asked by Geert Wilders, the party leader of the newly formed Party for Freedom, to join him on and get the second place on the list of candidates. In November 2006 she was chosen as a member of the Dutch House of Representatives. She left the States-Provincial on 14 March 2007. As an MP her main specialties are education, healthcare, spatial planning and infrastructure. She successfully advocated to raise the minimum age for sex workers from 18 to 21. Agema received a sixth term in the 2023 general election, and her portfolio changed to disability care and elderly care.


Fleur Agema with Geert Wilders in the Freedom Party (PVV) section of the Dutch parliament


The new Freedom Party (PVV) State Secretary for Long-term and Social Care in the new Schoof cabinet Vicky Maeijer (born 7 September 1986), Geert Wilders and Fleur Hagema, the new Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport in the Schoof cabinet. They are called, "The 2 Freedom Party women behind Geert Wilders" in political sense. Wilders is a loyal and happy husband of his Hungarian-Dutch wife Krisztina Wilders (née Márfai), a former diplomat from Hungary, since July 1992.


Geert Wilders (born 6 September 1963) with his Hungarian Dutch wife, Krisztina Wilders (née Márfai), a former diplomat from Hungary.

Agema was nominated in June 2024 to serve as Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport and as First Deputy Prime Minister in the new Schoof cabinet.

Personal

In December 2012 Agema announced that she has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Agema went on maternity leave on 13 January 2015, she was replaced by Karen Gerbrands. On 17 February 2015 she gave birth to a daughter with Léon de Jong.


Geert Wilders with the daughter of Fleur Agema


Fleur Agema with her husband


Fortuynism

Fortuynism is the political ideology of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn. Observers variously saw him as a political protest targeting the alleged elitism and bureaucratic style of the Dutch purple coalitions, as offering "openness, directness and clearness", populism simply as charisma. Another school holds Fortuynism as a distinct ideology, with an alternative vision of society. Some argue that Fortuynism is not just one ideology, but that it contained (national-) liberalism, populism and nationalism.


Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) in 2002.

Ideology

Fortuynism has generally been characterized as based on "populism" by political commentators. Dutch political author Cas Mudde defined Fortuynism as containing elements of liberalism, populism and nationalism. Others have defined it as opposition and a reaction to the perceived bureaucratic and elitist governing style of the purple coalitions, particularly under Dutch Labour Party Prime Minister Wim Kok. Gerrit Boerman, the head of the Document Center for Dutch Political Parties at the University of Groningen described Fortuyn's ideology as a "cocktail of elements stemming from different directions" which included conservative and communitarian values to restore "norms and values" from the 1950s, less government interference in the economy, while also holding a liberal and libertarian attitude on sexual freedom and soft drugs and a nationalistic stance towards immigration and protecting core Dutch principles against multiculturalism.

Pim Fortuyn had been a Marxist during his studies and early academic career before joining the Labour Party (PvdA) in the 1970s. However, his views shifted to the right in response to what he saw as failed policies on crime, immigration and integration. In his 1995 book De verweesde samenleving ("The orphaned society"), Fortuyn claimed that the progressive movement of the 1960s had eroded traditional norms and values. He wrote the roles of the "symbolic father" and the "caring mother" had been lost, leaving an orphaned population without guidance, to live out a meaningless decadent existence.

Fortuyn also documented much of his own beliefs and proposals in his book De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars (The ruins of eight years of Purple) which criticized many of the policies of the purple coalitions ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_coalition#Netherlands_and_Belgium ) and instead argued for a reduction in state bureaucracy, improvements to the health system, restrictions on immigration and stricter law and order policies. Fortuyn also favoured greater direct democracy, including elected mayors, police chiefs and an elected head of state. In foreign policy, Fortuyn and his party supported Dutch participation in NATO and were not opposed to the principle of European integration in theory, but opposed what they saw as the excessive bureaucracy and threat to national sovereignty posed by the European Union (EU). Fortuyn also proposed ending Dutch participation in the Eurozone and the Schengen Agreement.


Pim Fortuyn of the Rightwing Populist LPF (List Pim Fortuyn) party and his oponent, the Dutch Labour party (PvdA) leader Ad Melkert (born 12 February 1956)

Other commentators have noted opposition to Islam, multiculturalism and immigration as forming a significant part of Fortuynism. In August 2001, Fortuyn was quoted in the Rotterdams Dagblad newspaper saying, "I am also in favour of a Cold War with Islam. I see Islam as an extraordinary threat, as a hostile religion." He also argued that if legally possible, he would not allow any more Muslim immigrants into the Netherlands. However, Fortuyn also maintained that he did not oppose immigrants on the basis of their ethnic background and supported a pluralistic society in theory, but opposed what he saw as an unwillingness to integrate and a rejection of Dutch secular liberal values within existing Muslim communities. Jens Rydgren noted that while Fortuyn used anti-immigration rhetoric, he did not position himself as a far-right nationalist or a supporter of racial ethno-nationalism, and as such Fortuyn differed from other European national-populist leaders at the time. Instead, Fortuyn sought to defend Dutch values such as tolerating gay rights (Fortuyn was openly homosexual and an outspoken supporter of gay rights himself) which he saw as threatened by immigration. Fortuyn's ideas also differed from the more socially conservative and traditional values stances espoused by other nationalist politicians through holding liberal opinions regarding same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia. Fortuyn's party also won support from some ethnic minority voters and included candidates from immigrant backgrounds on its list for the 2002 election.

Political scientist Rudy Andeweg noted that Fortuynism can also be defined by the following positions:

- Civil liberties
- Classical liberalism
- Criticism of Islam (Pim Fortuyn called Islam a backward culture)
- Deregulation
- Direct democracy (Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are representative democracies.)
- Euroscepticism
- Freedom of speech
- Laissez-faire (a type of economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies or regulations). As a system of thought, laissez-faire rests on the following axioms: "the individual is the basic unit in society, i.e., the standard of measurement in social calculus; the individual has a natural right to freedom; and the physical order of nature is a harmonious and self-regulating system." Another basic principle of laissez-faire holds that markets should naturally be competitive, a rule that the early advocates of laissez-faire always emphasized. Laissez-faire defends Free market capitalism, free enterprise, entrepreneurship, small government and Free Trade. )
- LGBT rights
- Republicanism (an anti-Monarchist stance, supporting a Repbublican form of democracy with an elected president in staid of a King or Queen)
- Secularism
- Separation of church and state
- Small government
- Women's rights


The temporary grave of Pim Fortuyn in Driehuis


Funeral and commemorations of Pim Fortuyn in Rotterdam

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Folks,

Pim Fortuyn (1948–2002) was especially popular with the common man, the worker, civil servants, the lower middle class, the people. You saw this at his funeral in Rotterdam in 2002, where mainly working-class people came to pay tribute to their hero and mourn the death of their hero.

Fortuyn's anti-establishment, anti-elitist, practical (pragmatic), old fashionate moralist (fifties ethics of the grandparents generation) and strong message about security, immigration restrictions and Islam criticism resonated with native Dutch people from the working class and lower middle class.


Pim Fortuyn (1948–2002)

You can say that Fortuyn was a kind of working class hero despite the fact that he himself was an academic, university educated man, former professor.

He turned himself against the established liberal/Conservative (VVD), social democratic (Labour party PvdA), Centrist social liberal (D66), Christian Democratic (CDA) and green (GreenLeft) parties.

His death unleashed enormous anger among that section of the Dutch people who supported him. Workers, civil servants, farmers, and the lower middle class.

Pieter

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Folks,

Geert Wilders is responding with his Freedom Party (PVV) to the same resentment and popular anger and aversion of the working class and the lower middle class for the current political elite of the established parties. Although the PVV is not a Fortuynist party because it is a party based on Geert Wilder's ideology and ambitions and anti-Islam stance, anti-EU and anti-elite ideas, there are parallels. Geert Wilders is in a sense much more radical and extreme than Pim Fortuyn was.


Fleur Agema (left), Youth and Family PVV / Lilian Reker (right), List Pim Fortuyn Committee Member (Lijst Pim Fortuyn Eindhoven). Lijst Pim Fortuyn Eindhoven is a local political party in the municipality of Eindhoven that emerged in 2006 from the national Lijst Pim Fortuyn. This local party, with its branch in Breda, is the only faction that has retained the original name after the dissolution of the national LPF.

It is true that many former LPF (Pim Fortuyn) voters now vote for Geert Wilders' PVV (Freedom Party), but the Freedom Party (PVV) is not the same as Pim Fortuyn's LPF (List Pim Fortuyn). And Fleur Agema is certainly a former Fortuynist but at the same time a 100% PVV woman, Freedom party woman and Geert Wilders loyalist.


Fleur Agema and Geert Wilders on Little Prince's Day (Prinsjesdag), the day on which the reigning monarch of the Netherlands addresses a joint session of the States-General of the Netherlands (consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives) to give the Speech from the Throne (Dutch: Troonrede), similar to the annual State of the Union in the United States or the British State Opening of Parliament. This speech sets out the main features of government policy for the coming parliamentary session.

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The new Rigtwing to far right First Schoof cabinet on their first day in the Dutch House of Representatives (the Dutch parliament)




NOS News - Today, 11:16

Schoof: voters gave a crystal clear message



"The main agreement aims to do justice to the election results." This was said by the new Prime Minister Schoof in the government statement in the House of Representatives. According to him, voters have given the "crystal clear message" that they will be listened to and their concerns will be addressed. He said he took that message very seriously.

The Prime Minister identified asylum and migration as the biggest of those concerns: "Any way you look at it, that is the jumping point." According to him, the concerns about this are real: "You will only live in Ter Apel or Budel, or as a student you will have no way of getting a room or you will be surrounded by buildings where migrant workers are housed under the most appalling conditions."


Regaining trust is the most important task

Schoof said that only a government that really listens can regain people's trust, in connection with society: "The cabinet considers this "perhaps the most important task for the coming period".

After the Prime Minister's statement, all faction leaders will speak today and tomorrow Schoof will answer their questions. The new cabinet is a coalition of PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB. Schoof itself is partyless.


Schoof's first debate

Schoof and the other ministers were sworn in yesterday. The new Prime Minister has had a long career as a civil servant. He has not been a politician before and therefore has no experience with parliamentary debates.

Schoof compared his position with that of runner Sifan Hassan before her first marathon. He called the start of the cabinet exciting and emphasized that Hassan won her first marathon. "I like that as a marathon runner."

The debate will mainly focus on the 'main lines agreement' that the four parties concluded in May. The intention is that the plans will be developed into a 'government programme' in the near future. This will be presented in September.

Schoof pointed out, among other things, that the main agreement contains a reduction in tax burdens and a lower deductible. And "the very strict asylum and migration policy fits what our country needs," he added. According to him, the agreement gives farmers and fishermen perspective and provides more say for citizens and a stronger rule of law.



Schoof compared his position with that of runner Sifan Hassan before her first marathon. He called the start of the cabinet exciting and emphasized that Hassan won her first marathon. "I like that as a marathon runner." Sifan Hassan (Oromo: Siifan Hassan; born 1 January 1993) is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is most recognized for her versatility in running championship and world leading performances in widely disparate distances. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold medals in both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and a bronze medal for the 1,500 metres. Hassan is the only athlete in Olympic history to win medals across a middle-distance event and both long-distance races in a single Games. She is only the second woman to complete an Olympic distance double.