Rutte government sworn in

News item | 14-10-2010

Queen Beatrix has sworn in the Rutte government. The new government consists of twelve ministers and eight state secretaries.

The government is a coalition of the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA) and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). It will receive parliamentary support from the Freedom Party (PVV).

The number of government members is being reduced from 27 to 20. Six ministers come from the VVD and six from the CDA, with four state secretaries from each party.

New ministries

The new government is reducing the number of ministries from 13 to 11.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality are being merged into the new Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.

The Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management and the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment are being merged into the new Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment.

The housing portfolio and the Government Buildings Agency will now fall under the Ministry of the Interior.

The eleven ministers heading ministries are joined by a new Minister for Immigration and Asylum Policy, who will be based at the Ministry of the Interior.

Two ministerial posts will disappear: those of the Minister for Housing, Communities and Integration and the Minister for Youth and Families.

Final report on the formation of the new coalition government

A copy of Mark Rutte's final report has been submitted to the House of Representatives. It contains a summary of his activities since he was asked to form a government on 7 October 2010.

New policy

Select the Government tab option and you will find an overview of the government members, the coalition agreement, and the parliamentary support agreement. The pages of Government.nl will be updated soon to report on new government policy.

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