Former Dutch intelligence chief Dick Schoof was sworn in as prime minister of the Netherlands on Tuesday, leading a right-wing coalition government tasked with implementing the country’s “strictest ever” immigration policy.
More than seven months after far-right leader Geert Wilders’ resounding election victory surprised the country and the whole of Europe, Mr Schoof succeeds Mark Rutte, in power since 2010. The latter has been appointed Secretary General of NATO.
Mr. Schoof presented his ministers to Dutch King Willem-Alexander in the gilded palace of The Hague. Each took a step to pledge allegiance to the sovereign and the constitution.
“I am very much looking forward to getting to work as Prime Minister,” Mr Schoof wrote on X.
“For a safe and fair Netherlands, with social security for everyone. Control of migration, dialogue, clear choices. You can count on me,” he added.
Mr Wilders was forced to abandon his ambition to become prime minister after some parties threatened to split over his notoriously anti-Islam and Eurosceptic views.
Instead, the four coalition parties agreed that their leaders would not be part of the government and a compromise was reached in the person of Mr Schoof, 67, who is not a party.
The marathon runner will need all his stamina and experience in the corridors of power in The Hague to keep a fragile coalition together.
“He will have a lot of work to do to keep ideological and personal conflicts under control,” Sarah de Lange, professor of political pluralism at the University of Amsterdam, told AFP.
According to an Ipsos poll published on Tuesday, public confidence in the government has risen to 42%, after a low of 29% in September 2022.
Former head of the anti-terrorist agency
Mr Schoof said he was “determined” to implement the coalition’s plans, which aim to introduce “the strictest asylum admissions policy ever” and a package of measures “to control migration”.
The 26-page coalition agreement, titled “Hope, Courage and Pride,” also calls for consideration of moving the Dutch embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Mr Schoof wants to be “a prime minister for all Dutch citizens”. “I am non-party. I do not see myself being kept on a leash by Mr Wilders,” he said.
“Given his extensive experience leading government agencies, he will surely know how to defend his position,” De Lange said.
“It remains an open question how he will react if Wilders tries to put pressure on him by publicly expressing criticism of his operation on X,” she believes.
Dick Schoof has played a key role in various crisis situations, including the investigation after the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014. He was then head of the Netherlands’ counter-terrorism agency.
All 298 people on board were killed – including 196 Dutch – by a Russian-made BUK missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian fighters.
“Tourette”
A former Labour Party member, Schoof has the support of left-wing opposition leader Frans Timmermans, who nevertheless described him as “clearly Wilders’ candidate”.
The Netherlands’ shift to the right comes against the backdrop of the rise of far-right parties in several European countries, such as in France, where the National Rally (RN) came out on top in the first round of legislative elections on Sunday.
In the Netherlands, the handover of power ends Mark Rutte’s 14 years in “Tourette” – the prime minister’s office in The Hague – a longevity record in the Netherlands.
His terms as prime minister were not without their problems, but he managed to stay in power, earning the nickname “Teflon Mark” for his ability to weather scandals.
In a solemn farewell speech on Sunday, he apologized for a scandal in which thousands of parents were wrongly accused — in some cases after racial profiling — of fraudulently receiving child benefit.
He also expressed his regret for the earthquakes caused by gas extraction in the northern Groningen region.