Cabinet Rutte II

Cabinet group photo dated December 5, 2012

The Rutte II cabinet formed the government of the Netherlands with the King from November 5, 2012 to October 26, 2017 . This grand coalition consisted of the bourgeois-liberal VVD ( Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ) and the social-democratic PvdA ( Partij van de Arbeid ). In its coalition agreement, it agreed to save around 16 billion euros in the state budget by 2017.

In the early parliamentary elections on September 12, 2012, the right-wing liberals and the Social Democrats became the largest parties in the Second Chamber. On October 29, the two party leaders Mark Rutte and Diederik Samsom presented the coalition agreement between VVD and PvdA. The motto of the second Rutte cabinet was “Building bridges” ( Bruggen slaan ).

On November 5, 2012, the new government ministers took the oath of office on the Dutch constitution before Queen Beatrix . For the first time in the history of the Netherlands, the swearing-in ceremony in the royal palace Huis ten Bosch could be seen publicly and live on television and the Internet.

The formation of the government took a total of 54 days.

composition

The cabinet consisted of 13 ministers and 7 state secretaries. The VVD provided 7 ministers, the PvdA 6. The VVD provided 3 state secretaries, the PvdA 4.

minister

Department	minister		Political party	Remarks
Prime Minister , Minister for General Affairs		Mark Rutte	VVD
Minister for Social Affairs and Labor		Lodewijk Asscher	PvdA	Deputy Prime Minister
Minister for Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations		Ronald Plasterk	PvdA
Foreign minister		Frans Timmermans until October 17, 2014 Bert Koenders since October 17, 2014	PvdA
Minister without portfolio		Lilianne Ploumen	PvdA	Foreign trade and development cooperation
Minister of Defense		Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert until October 3, 2017 Klaas Dijkhoff since October 4, 2017	VVD
Minister for Economy		Henk Kamp	VVD
Minister of Finance		Jeroen Dijsselbloem	PvdA
Minister for Infrastructure and the Environment		Melanie Schultz van Haegen	VVD
Minister for Education, Culture and Science		Jet Bussemaker	PvdA
Minister for Security and Justice		Ivo Opstelten until March 9, 2015 Stef Blok provisional Ard van der Steur from March 19, 2015 to January 26, 2017 Stef Blok since January 27, 2017	VVD
Minister for Health, Welfare and Sport		Edith Schippers	VVD
Minister with no portfolio		Stef Blok until January 27, 2017	VVD	responsible for housing and public administration Since January 27, 2017, the Minister for Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations has been performing the duties.

State Secretaries

Department	State Secretary		Political party	Remarks
State Secretary for the Economy		Co Verdaas until December 6, 2012 Sharon Dijksma from December 17, 2012 to November 3, 2015 Martijn van Dam from November 3, 2015 to August 31, 2017	PvdA	In contact with abroad: Minister of Agriculture The Minister has been performing the duties since August 31, 2017.
State Secretary for Finance		Frans Weekers until January 30, 2014 Eric Wiebes since February 4, 2014	VVD
State Secretary for Infrastructure and the Environment		Wilma Mansveld until October 28, 2015 Sharon Dijksma since November 3, 2015	PvdA	In contact with abroad: Minister for the Environment
State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science		Sander Dekker	VVD
State Secretary for Social Affairs and Labor		Jetta Klijnsma	PvdA
State Secretary for Security and Justice		Fred Teeven until March 9, 2015 Stef Blok, acting as Klaas Dijkhoff from March 20, 2015 to October 4, 2017	VVD	In contact with abroad: Minister for Immigration The minister has been performing the duties since October 4, 2017.
State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport		Martin van Rijn	PvdA

Web links

• www.government.nl: coalition agreement (pdf, 5 MB, German)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kabinet-Rutte II beëdigd , NOS , November 5, 2012. Accessed November 5, 2012.
2. ↑ coalition agreement (p. 6)
3. ↑ Bewindspersonen , Rijksoverheid, November 5, 2012. Retrieved on November 5 2012th