White smoke in the Netherlands: after eleven months there is an agreement on a new government

In the Netherlands, the leaders of the right-liberal VVD, the left-liberal D66, the Christian-democratic CDA and the social-Christian Christian Union agreed on a negotiator’s agreement for a new government on Monday evening. The informants report this after hours of consultations during the longest government formation ever in the country.

Wednesday it will be exactly eleven months since the Rutte III government fell over the allowance affair. Tens of thousands of parents were wrongly labeled as fraudsters in the allowance affair. Due to the debts they incurred, they fell into poverty and stress.

Nine months ago, elections were held in the Netherlands and after almost 300 days of negotiations, a coalition agreement was reached.

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