After a record 225 day formation following the March parliamentary elections Mark Rutte’s third term cabinet was sworn in on the 26^th of October. The coalition of four parties took long to form and relies on a 1 seat margin and replaces the ‘Grand Coalition’ of the past four years.

The Netherlands is likely to keep a pro-European course with reluctance to transfer sovereignty from the national level to the European level, as it has been since the rejection of the European Constitution in 2004. Two ministers will rule the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: former top-diplomat Sigrid Kaag for foreign trade & humanitarian cooperation and Halbe Zijlstra as minister of foreign affairs. The two are considered opposites and Zijlstra is known in the Netherlands to be blunt. The Netherlands is thus expected to keep its European course but with a slightly harder tone.

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