Hoekstra at Foreign Affairs is a striking choice, says political reporter Fons Lambie. “When Hans van Mierlo combined Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 1990s, it was difficult at crucial moments.”
“There were also people in the party who felt that Hoekstra should remain in the Chamber, but the fear was that Hoekstra – who is more of a director himself – would be snowed under in a splintered Chamber. A CDA member even said that the choice for Foreign Affairs would mean the end of his party leadership, but Hoekstra will combine both functions.”
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Marnix van Rij will be State Secretary for Taxation on behalf of the CDA, Vivianne Heijnen is the intended State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management.
Earlier it became clear that Hugo de Jonge Minister for Housing and Spatial Planning.
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Familiar faces in crucial places
“More female ministers, a number of new faces, but we still see a number of ministers from the previous cabinet in crucial places. The core of the cabinet remains Prime Minister Rutte, with deputy prime ministers Kaag, Hoekstra and Schouten. Kaag and Hoekstra even swap jobs,” says Lambie.
While the top of the cabinet has familiar faces, according to Lambie, the innovation is in a number of line ministries. At D66 with scientist Robbert Dijkgraaf on Education and with Ernst Kuipers on Public Health. “They really come from outside The Hague. The VVD mainly gets active VVD members who are active elsewhere in the party: regionally, from the party board, from the European Parliament, from the Senate.”
D66 stamp
“This cabinet bears an emphatic D66 stamp. The second party in the elections has claimed a number of crucial ministries. Finance, Health and Climate are important ministries. It is also striking that the entire D66 top chooses to sit in the cabinet: both Kaag and Jetten will become ministers, so that means that the group has to look for a new group chairman.”
Lambie: “Also striking: this cabinet has many more female ministers than before. At the CDA, the ministers are neatly divided: half men, half women. At the VVD, female ministers are in the majority. Mark Rutte is making his mistake with this. 2017 was good. Then he had only found one female minister and that caused him fierce criticism.”
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