The process of forming a government

Seven new governments have been formed since 1994.The law stipulates nothing about the process of forming a government. The process takes a different course each time, though certain procedures are always followed.

The process of forming a new government begins immediately after elections to the House of Representatives. The process lays the basis for a new government and the policy it will pursue.

The first step is for an informateur to investigate which political parties could form a coalition. Then a formateur seeks ministers and state secretaries for the new government. 

Consultations

Once a new House of Representatives has been elected, the Queen summons the presidents of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the vice-president of the Council of State, and the leaders of the parties in the House of Representatives to advise her on the formation of a new government. 

The Informateur and his role

Acting on their advice, the Queen then asks one or more informateurs to explore the possibilities for forming a coalition government that can count on majority support in the House of Representatives. The informateur looks into what combination of parties could form a new coalition. To do this, he or she consults the leaders of all the parliamentary parties in the House of Representatives, and then reports back to the Queen. 

The informateur presides over consultations with the leaders of the parties that seem most likely to be able to form a coalition. The main topic of discussion is the programme of policies the future government will pursue. Once the party leaders have agreed on a programme, they set it out in a draft coalition agreement.

The informateur then draws up a final report to the Queen, including the draft coalition agreement and recommending a government formateur, who will probably become the new prime minister.

The formateur and his role

As soon as the prospective governing parties have set out a draft coalition agreement, the Queen then asks the formateur to form a government.  This will usually be the future prime minister. The formateur will then approach prospective ministers and state secretaries (junior ministers), in consultation with negotiators from the prospective governing parties. 

The new government

The Queen then signs royal decrees accepting the resignation of the caretaker government and appointing the new government members. The new government can then go to work.

Distribution of ministerial posts

Ministerial positions are allocated according to the size of each coalition party. The largest party generally provides the most ministers, including the prime minister. The formateur can then start looking for candidates that the coalition parties can nominate as ministers and state secretaries. When the new government is complete they meet to endorse the coalition agreement. The formateur draws up a final report specifying the ministers and state secretaries who wish to constitute the new government and submits it to the Queen.

The duration of the formation process

The formateur aims to form a new government as soon as possible, as the caretaker government may deal only with ongoing matters and cannot initiate new policy. In the Netherlands, the formation process can last from a number of weeks to more than six months.

Political rules for forming a government

The Constitution stipulates no rules for forming governments. The formation procedure is based mainly on unwritten law and the rules of the political game. The Constitution addresses only the beginning and the end of the formation process: the resignation of the old government and the appointment of the new one. There is no written law governing the period in between or the role of the monarch.

Draft coalition agreement

uring the formation process, the leaders of the parties which will form the coalition notify the informateur of the main points of their political programmes, which form the draft coalition agreement. This agreement is then discussed with the parties. If the parties approve the text, the informateur sends it to the House of Representatives for perusal and submits his final report to the Queen. She then appoints a formateur who seeks candidates to become members of the new government.

Coalition agreement

Before the new government is sworn in, there is a meeting at which the new ministers pledge their support for the draft coalition agreement. When the new government takes office the coalition agreement becomes definitive.

The coalition agreement presents the government’s main policy objectives for its term of office. It is drawn up during the process of forming the government by the parliamentary parties that are coalition members.

Parliamentary support

A party that is not a member of the coalition may agree to support a government which does not have a majority in the House of Representatives. The governing parties and the supporting party can formalise this in a parliamentary support agreement. In the minority Rutte government, the rightwing Freedom Party (PVV) supports the coalition formed by the free-market liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA).

Parliamentary support agreement

The coalition parties in a minority government can formalise the support of another party or parties in the House of Representatives in advance in a parliamentary support agreement. This is like the coalition agreement, but in this case contains pledges on the main points on which the supporting party will support the minority government in parliament.

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