Queen Beatrix has appointed the vice-president of the Council of State, Herman Tjeenk Willink, as the new coalition negotiator to replace Senator Uri Rosenthal.
In choosing the country’s top civil servant, the queen has ignored Senator Rosenthal’s advice to appoint two negotiators, one from the conservative VVD and one from the Labour party. Mr Rosenthal’s advice was welcomed by the VVD, Labour, the Christian Democrats and the Green Left party. The democrat party D66 was the only one to express a preference for a single negotiator.
As vice-president of the Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court and highest government advisory body, Mr Tjeenk Willink, 68, is the monarch’s main advisor and is sometimes nicknamed the country’s vice-king. He is a member of the Labour party but is widely seen as standing above party interests. After serving as Labour senator, he became Senate speaker. He has been vice-president of the Council of State since 1997.
In 1994 Mr Tjeenk Willink was the coalition negotiator who forged the first “Purple government” comprising the conservative VVD, Labour and D66. “Purple plus”, these three parties plus Green Left, is one of the coalition options being explored.
In a statement, Mr Tjeenk Willink stresses “he has not been hired to conduct negotiations on forming any cabinet whatsoever”. Echoing the queen’s brief, he said he would merely inform her as soon as possible on steps to be taken to form a cabinet which can count on a fruitful cooperation with parliament.
“Without agreement regarding the procedure, each step of the queen would be interpreted as a political choice”, Mr Tjeenk Willink added.
He will begin his task on Monday with talks with his predecessor, Senator Rosenthal, and the parliamentary party leaders of the VVD, Labour, CDA, D66 and Green Left. These are the parties Mr Rosenthal’s final report indicated as willing to hold coalition talks.
The far-right PVV party led by Geert Wilders has not been invited. In a reaction, Mr Wilders denounced “the exclusion of the biggest winner as undemocratic”.
