CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra becomes the new Minister of Foreign Affairs and his party colleague Hugo de Jonge exchanges VWS for public housing. The CDA has reported this in a letter to members. Two old acquaintances return to The Hague on behalf of the CDA: former State Secretary Karien van Gennip (53), now director of insurance company VGZ, becomes Minister of Social Affairs and Employment and former MP Hanke Bruins Slot (44), now deputy in Utrecht, will do the Interior.
Former party chairman Marnix van Rij (61) will start as State Secretary for Taxation at the Ministry of Finance. The Maastricht alderman Vivianne Heijnen (38) will be the new State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management on behalf of the CDA.
This means that all the names of the new ministers and state secretaries are known, who will be sworn in by King Willem-Alexander in eight days.
Dijkgraaf, Kuipers and Jetten
D66 announced its own list of names earlier this afternoon. As it became clear earlier, party leader Sigrid Kaag (60) will do Finance. It has now also been confirmed that top scientist Robbert Dijkgraaf (61) will be the new Minister of Education, Culture and Science. He is currently director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
Recently, the name of Ernst Kuipers (62) has already been mentioned a lot as the new Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport. That name is now also confirmed. Kuipers is currently chairman of the board of directors of Erasmus MC and became known during the corona crisis with his press conferences about hospital capacity. In his new role he succeeds Hugo de Jonge.
Former party chairman Rob Jetten (34) will become Minister for Climate and Energy. He sat with Kaag on behalf of D66 at the negotiating table for the new cabinet.
Ollongren to Defense
The transfer of Kajsa Ollongren (54) from Interior to Defense is also confirmed by the party. This perpetuates a recent tradition that a woman holds sway over that ministry.
Franc Weerwind (57) will be a new face in The Hague as the new Minister for Legal Protection. He has been mayor of Almere since 2015, and before that of Velsen.
D66 also provides three state secretaries. Alexandra van Huffelen (53), currently State Secretary for Finance and responsible for dealing with the Allowance scandal, will become State Secretary for Kingdom Relations and Digitization. Her current colleague at Finance, Hans Vijlbrief (58), will now act as State Secretary for Mining to tackle the damage caused by gas extraction in Groningen.
Uslu on Culture
Striking new name is that of Gunay Uslu (49). She will be the new State Secretary for Culture and Media on behalf of D66. Uslu is a cultural historian and sits on the board of several museums. In addition, she has been involved with travel organization Corendon, which is led by her family.
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