Sigrid Kaag becomes Minister of Finance in the new Dutch government. That post is ‘crucial’ in the implementation of the ‘ambitious plans’ that the parties have for the coming years, the D66 leader said in a statement.
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Sigrid Kaag becomes the first female finance minister and the first of D66. Earlier this week, it was announced that her party had claimed the finance minister. It has been customary for years for the second-largest party in a governing coalition to provide the treasury keeper. But sitting minister Wopke Hoekstra of the CDA also reportedly wanted to continue.
Kaag will also become deputy prime minister, and sees an important responsibility for himself in that position. ‘I am thinking in particular of combating polarization in politics and in society.’ Like all other intended ministers, Kaag will meet with formateur Mark Rutte next week. If everything goes according to plan the new Dutch government will be sworn in on January 10th.
In the previous cabinet, Kaag was Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation and later Minister of Foreign Affairs. She resigned after the chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan after the Taliban took power there.
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