Following the Dutch general election of 22 November 2023, a process of cabinet formation was started. This resulted in the formation of the Schoof cabinet on 2 July 2024, comprising the Party for Freedom (PVV), the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), New Social Contract (NSC) and the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB). Despite intentions to form an extra-parliamentary cabinet, the cabinet was generally considered a parliamentary cabinet.
As the largest party, the PVV initially nominated Gom van Strien as scout, but he was replaced by Ronald Plasterk (PvdA) due to unrelated fraud allegations. NSC and VVD were hesitant to govern with the PVV because some of its positions conflicted with the rule of law. Plasterk, as informateur, held talks with these parties and the BBB about the rule of law and other issues. After a month and a half, tensions over financial disagreements led NSC to withdraw from the formation talks on 6 February.
In February, Kim Putters (PvdA) was appointed informateur to determine the best structure for a new cabinet. He recommended forming an extra-parliamentary cabinet with PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB. Under the guidance of informateurs Elbert Dijkgraaf and Richard van Zwol, these parties reached an agreement on 15 May. Minister selection began on 23 May with formateur Van Zwol. On 28 May, civil servant Dick Schoof (independent) was nominated as Prime Minister after Plasterk withdrew over integrity concerns and seven other candidates declined. The 29 cabinet members were sworn in on 2 July.
Background The previous fourth Rutte cabinet, formed in January 2022 after the longest ever formation, included the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Democrats 66 (D66), Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Christian Union (CU). After surviving multiple crises over the regulation of nitrogen emissions, the cabinet faced a further crisis over asylum policy. The VVD's proposed stricter measures were unacceptable to CU, leading CU to break off negotiations. Prime minister Mark Rutte therefore offered the resignation of his cabinet on 7 July 2023. This was seen by some as a power play by the VVD to force elections around an issue that benefited them. Shortly after, Rutte announced he would not continue as VVD leader.
Campaign The Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) became the largest party in the provincial elections of March 2023, and therefore in the 2023 Senate election. The party maintained its lead in the polls until the fall of the cabinet, though subsequently lost this position, partly because the nitrogen crisis was rarely discussed during the campaign. The leading position in the polls then alternated between VVD, New Social Contract (NSC) and GroenLinks–PvdA (GL-PvdA). PVV party leader Geert Wilders' more constructive tone and a successful debate at SBS6 contributed to his party taking the lead in a Peil.nl poll in the last week. This stimulated strategic voting on both the left and the right to respectively prevent or force a right-wing cabinet, from which GL-PvdA and PVV particularly benefited.
During the campaign, possible coalitions were discussed. GL-PvdA, D66, CDA and smaller parties continued to exclude the PVV. With the arrival of Dilan Yeşilgöz as party leader, the VVD did not rule out governing with the PVV for the first time since 2010. At the end of the campaign she partly reversed this, saying that she did not want to be in a cabinet in which Wilders' party was the largest. During the campaign, NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt remained vague about possible cooperation with the PVV. Towards the end indicated that he was not in favour, as he viewed some of the PVV's positions as contrary to the Constitution.
Election results
The PVV became the largest party in the elections with 37 seats. The coalition parties of the incumbent cabinet fell from 78 to 41 seats. Despite GL-PvdA becoming the second largest party, the left and progressive block as a whole fell from 63 to 47 seats. The three largest right-wing parties PVV, VVD and NSC got a majority of 81 seats in the House of Representatives. With only 14 seats in the Senate they were far removed from the 38 required for a majority. Supplemented with BBB, this combination resulted in 88 seats in the House and 30 in the Senate.
Scout Van Strien
On 24 November 2023, PVV Senator Gom van Strien was selected as scout, as proposed by Wilders. Van Strien's task was to explore "which coalition options can count on support based on the election results". Two days after the appointment, it became public that Van Strien was suspected of fraud. On 27 November, before meeting any party leaders, he resigned as scout.
Scout Plasterk
Wilders requested former VVD State Secretary Fred Teeven as a scout, but this was rejected by the other parties. Former CDA Minister Jan Kees de Jager was also asked, but he refused. On 28 November 2023, former PvdA Minister and Telegraaf columnist Ronald Plasterk was appointed as scout as proposed by Wilders. Shortly after the election, he had written in his column about a PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB coalition: "All in all, there are no serious alternative coalitions. The formation process isn't terribly complicated and shouldn't take very long."
Coalition preferences + Coalitions acceptable to voters. Based on a poll from EenVandaag (23 November 2023) Coalition % PVV + VVD + NSC + BBB 60 PVV + VVD + NSC 57 GL-PvdA + VVD + NSC + D66 26 GL-PvdA + NSC + D66 + PvdD + SP + CU 24 From 29 November until 1 December, Plasterk met with the party leaders. Wilders said he wanted to form a cabinet and proposed talks with VVD, NSC and BBB. BBB leader Caroline van der Plas also preferred this combination "if Geert [Wilders] moves along a bit". This combination was supported by FvD, SGP and JA21, who were open to supporting them in the Senate. VVD and NSC were more reluctant. Yeşilgöz stated just before Van Strien’s appointment that her party would not join the cabinet due to its electoral loss but would offer confidence and supply to a center-right government. In doing so, VVD claimed the position of confidence and supply, which was also sought by NSC.
Omtzigt told Plasterk that he was not ready to negotiate with the PVV because of concerns around the rule of law. He proposed that two informateurs would explore each party's preferred solutions to the problems under discussion. Wilders responded by reposting a column which called Omtzigt a "sneaky Catholic", and revealed that they had met in private two days before.
PvdD leader Esther Ouwehand wanted to hand the initiative to GL-PvdA and NSC and said that a coalition was possible "with many small parties in it, probably including ours". The other parties saw no role for themselves in this first phase. Timmermans called a cabinet with GL-PvdA and PVV a "no-go" and considered it "extremely unlikely" that there would be an opportunity for GL-PvdA to join a cabinet.
After the first round, Plasterk notified the House he would need another week. Between 4 and 7 December he met with pairs of party leaders from PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB. He met twice with Wilders and Omtzigt. After the first, they said that "some air had been cleared" between them.
Advice On 11 December 2023, Plasterk handed his report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In it he recommended appointing an informateur to investigate whether an agreement can be reached between the PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB "on a joint baseline for guaranteeing the Constitution, fundamental rights and the democratic rule of law". The informateur should then explore whether there is a realistic prospect that the parties can reach agreement on a number of issues, including migration, good governance, climate, the nitrogen crisis and social security.
Informateur Plasterk During the debate on 13 December 2023 about the advice, the House appointed Plasterk as informateur. He started talks with the parties the next day. The parties agreed to keep 'radio silence'. The party leaders were accompanied by Sophie Hermans and Eelco Heinen (VVD), Eddy van Hijum (NSC), Mona Keijzer and Henk Vermeer (BBB), Gidi Markuszower and Fleur Agema (PVV).
Over the following weekswith an interruption of the Christmas recessthe parties discussed the rule of law. During this time, Wilders withdrew a number of bills which, according to the Council of State, may have been contrary to the rule of law. On 10 January 2024, at the end of a three-day meeting on the De Zwaluwenberg estate, the parties concluded their discussions, agreeing, among other things, that the rule of law, the Constitution, judicial decisions and international treaties would be respected. Despite the agreement, the NSC told the other negotiators that it would only provide supply and confidence to a cabinet because of the 'rule of law distance' with the PVV.
Another topic of discussion was whether the parties could reach an agreement over finances. The parties were informed by the Ministry of Finance, De Nederlandsche Bank and the Central Planning Bureau, who had previously recommended cuts of 17 billion. VVD and NSC argued in favour of strict budget discipline, while BBB and PVV opposed major cuts. In addition, there were concerns about BBB's financial knowledge. At Omtzigt's insistence, all ministries were asked to inform the negotiators about possible financial setbacks.
Collapse of the negotiations On 5 February, the negotiators met without Plasterk for an away-day at the Ministry of Justice and Security, where Yeşilgöz was minister. The atmosphere had deteriorated in the days before, as the parties publicly attacked each other. Omtzigt was hesitant and made "retreating movements" that day. A day later, the information about the possible financial setbacks, requested by Omtzigt, was shared. Omtzigt argued that Plasterk had shared this information too late, and criticized the attitude of the other parties towards the financial risks.
Omtzigt left the meeting in the afternoon andborrowing the informateur's car and driver returned to his hotel. He invited three journalists to inform them, under embargo, that this formation round was over for NSC. Before the embargo was over, and before he had informed the other parties, NSC's letter to its members about the news was leaked. Omtzigt therefore informed the co-negotiators and informateur via an app message. Plasterk invited NSC to the rest of the meetings that week, but Omtzigt did not respond.
On 12 February, Plasterk handed his report over to Speaker of the House of Representatives Martin Bosma. In the report, Plasterk concluded that despite NSC's departure, an agreement between the four parties "is not excluded and can very well be achieved". He advised appointing a new informateur to determine whether the parties could reach an agreement. During the debate on the final report on 14 February, Plasterk mentioned that Omtzigt had used the informateur's official car on 6 February to be driven to the hotel where he briefed the journalists.
Informateur Putters
Wilders approached State Secretary for the CDA Marnix van Rij to replace Plasterk, but he refused. During the debate on 14 February 2024, Kim Putters, chairman of the Social and Economic Council and former PvdA senator, was appointed as informateur, based on a proposal by Wilders. His assignment was to investigate within four weeks what form a cabinet should take, such as a minority or extra-parliamentary cabinet. During the spring recess, Putters consulted with experts, such as former informateur Herman Tjeenk Willink and vice-president of the Council of State Thom de Graaf, and then invited all parliamentary leaders. From those conversations he concluded that neither a majority cabinet nor a cabinet with confidence and supply was possible, and began investigating whether it was possible to form an extra-parliamentary cabinet with PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB.