A very peculiar cabinet

Published on 15 October 2010 at 09:50

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"An ordinary and yet unusual government”:Trouw leads with a shot of Queen Beatrix and the new Dutch cabinet on the steps of her home in The Hague,Huis Ten Bosch. Mark Rutte, the first head of a conservative-liberal government in 92 years, admitshis coalition is a little unusual — without a parliamentary majority, it will need backing fromGeert Wilders’ populist and Islamophobic PVV. “Especially abroad, however,” reports the Dutch daily, “Rutte insists The Netherlands has a normal government." Only a month ago though, he had claimed the new cabinet would “make the Dutch right lick their chops” – a gaffe for which he is now trying to make amends. Hence the new spin: “A government open towards society, but towards other parliamentary parties as well.”

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