The cabinet of the Netherlands (Dutch; Flemish: Nederlands kabinet) is the main executive body of the Netherlands. The current cabinet of the Netherlands is the Schoof cabinet,[1] which has been in power since 2 July 2024. It is headed by Prime Minister Dick Schoof.[2]
See also: Council of Ministers (Netherlands). The cabinet consists of the ministers and state secretaries. The cabinet is led by the Prime Minister. There are between twelve and sixteen Ministers, most of whom are also heads of specific government ministries, although there are often some ministers without portfolio who have areas of responsibility inside one or more ministries. For instance there has for some time been a minister for development cooperation, who works within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most ministries also have a state secretary who is responsible for part of the relevant portfolio. State secretaries (such as that of Trade and Development Cooperation) are given the right to call themselves "Minister" in other countries and be treated as such for protocolary purposes, while not having any of the domestic rights given specifically to Ministers. Most significantly, state secretaries are not members of the Council of Ministers.
The policy of a cabinet is coordinated by the Council of Ministers, in which all ministers, including ministers without portfolio, take part. The Council initiates laws and policy. State secretaries do not attend the Council of Ministers unless invited, and even then they have no voting rights in the Council. The Council meets every Friday in the Trêveszaal (the Room of Treaties) in the Binnenhof. Meetings are chaired by the Prime Minister, or an acting Prime Minister if necessary. The Council makes decisions in a collegial manner; all ministers, including the Prime Minister, are (theoretically) equal. Behind the closed doors of the Trêveszaal, ministers can freely debate proposed decisions and express their opinion on any aspect of cabinet policy. Once a decision is made by the Council, all individual members are bound by it and are obliged to support it publicly. A member of Cabinet who is not prepared to publicly support a decision of the Council is obliged to step down. Typically, a good deal of effort is put into reaching relative consensus on any decision. A process of voting within the Council does exist, but is hardly ever used.
Together with the King, the Council of Ministers forms the Government, which makes all the major decisions. In practice, the King does not participate in the daily decision-making of government, although he is kept up to date by weekly meetings with the Prime Minister. The Dutch constitution does not speak of cabinet, but instead only of the Council of Ministers and Government.
The ministers, individually and collectively (as cabinet), are responsible to the States-General for government policy and must enjoy its confidence. It is not possible for a minister to be a member of parliament. Ministers or state secretaries who are no longer supported by a parliamentary majority are also expected by convention to step down. In contrast to the Westminster system, Dutch ministers may not simultaneously also be members of the States-General, although members of the States-General can be appointed as ministers, whereupon their seats become vacant.
An important question is whether the relationship between the cabinet and parliament should be dualistic or monistic. That is, whether ministers and leaders of governing parliamentary parties should prepare important political decisions. According to the dualistic position, members of parliament of governing parties should function independently of the Cabinet. The monistic position, by contrast, is that the Cabinet plays an important role in proposing legislation and policy.
The Council of Ministers typically meets at least once a week and is presided by the Prime Minister.[3]
See main article: Dutch cabinet formation. After a general election held generally every four years, or if a cabinet resigns during a parliamentary term, the process of cabinet formation starts. Because of the multi-party system of the Netherlands, no single party has had a majority in parliament since 1900, and formation of a coalition of two or often three parties is always necessary. This is a time-consuming process. The entire procedure is regulated by tradition and convention, with only the final appointment process specified by law.
Since 2012, the House of Representative appoints a scout to explore which political parties are willing to form a cabinet together. In the subsequent information phase, negotiations will take place under the leadership of an informateur about the government's future policy programme, to be recorded in a coalition agreement.. If negotiations break down, a new informateur is appointed and the information process begins afresh. If the informateur is successful, the portfolios are determined, divided among the parties and ministers and state secretaries are sought under the leadership of a formateur. The formateur is usually the prospective Prime Minister.
If the formateur is successful, the Monarch appoints all ministers and state secretaries individually by Royal Decision (Koninklijk Besluit). Each Minister privately swears an oath of loyalty to the Constitution. After this the entire Council of Ministers and the King or Queen regnant are photographed on the stairs of the palace Huis ten Bosch during the bordes scene. The new cabinet then presents their government statement to parliament.
Between the dissolution of the States-General before general elections and the appointment of a new cabinet, the incumbent cabinet is termed demissionair, that is, a caretaker government limiting itself to urgent and pressing matters and traditionally not taking any controversial decisions. If a Cabinet falls during a parliamentary term because one of the coalition partners withdraws its support, the coalition partner in question may leave. This does not result in a demissionair Cabinet, unless the Prime Minister is granted a dissolution of the States-General. Instead, the remaining parties in the governing coalition form a rompkabinet ("rump cabinet"). If the parties do not between them control a majority of the House of Representatives, the cabinet continues as a minority government.
There are fifteen ministries, all with their own Minister, there is also one Ministers without portfolio and in some ministries there is a State Secretary next to the Minister. The number of Ministers and State Secretaries and the division of their tasks may vary somewhat from one cabinet to another. The ministries are:
The first real cabinet was formed in 1848 after a constitution was adopted which limited the power of the King and introduced the principle of ministerial responsibility to parliament. Until 1888 cabinets lacked a real coordinating role, and instead ministers were focused on their own department. After 1888 cabinets became more political.
Of the 32 coalition governments since World War II, only three excluded the largest party (all three times PvdA) and the largest number of parties in a coalition was 5 (in 1971 and 1973). After that, the three major Christian-democratic parties merged into CDA, and 2- or 3-party coalitions became standard.
Since 1945 there have been 32 cabinets, which were headed by 16 Prime Ministers. Willem Drees and Jan Peter Balkenende both chaired the most cabinets (four) and Ruud Lubbers served as Prime Minister the longest (between 1982 and 1994). The second Rutte cabinet was the longest lasting cabinet since World War II (1,816 days); only the cabinet led by Theo Heemskerk sat longer (2025 days). The first Balkenende cabinet is the shortest lasting normal cabinet since World War II (87 days); only the fifth cabinet of Hendrikus Colijn lasted shorter (10 days).
Colors = id:yellow value:rgb(0.7,0.7,1) # light yellow id:pvda value:rgb(1,0.4,0.4) # light red id:cda value:rgb(0.4,0.8,0.4) # light green id:vvd value:rgb(0.5,0.5,1) # blue id:vdb value:rgb(1,0.7,1) # light purple id:black value:black id:grey value:rgb(0.7,0.7,0.7)
Period = from:1945 till:1984TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1945ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1945
PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:50 shift:(5,12) align:left
bar:yellow color:yellow
from: 1945.5 till: 1946.5 color:pvda from: 1946.5 till: 1948.6 color:cda from: 1948.6 till: 1951.2 color:pvda from: 1951.2 till: 1952.7 color:pvda from: 1952.7 till: 1956.8 color:pvda from: 1956.8 till: 1959.0 color:pvda from: 1959.0 till: 1959.4 color:cda from: 1959.4 till: 1963.6 color:cda from: 1963.6 till: 1965.3 color:cda from: 1965.3 till: 1966.9 color:cda from: 1966.9 till: 1967.3 color:cda from: 1967.3 till: 1971.5 color:cda from: 1971.5 till: 1972.6 color:cda from: 1972.6 till: 1973.4 color:cda from: 1973.4 till: 1978.0 color:pvda from: 1978.0 till: 1981.7 color:cda from: 1981.7 till: 1982.4 color:cda from: 1982.4 till: 1982.8 color:cda shift:(3,12) at: 1945.5 color:pvda text:Schermerhorn-~Drees at: 1946.5 color:cda text:~ ~Beel I shift:(3,18) at: 1948.6 color:pvda text:~ ~ ~Drees-~Van Schaik shift:(3,12) at: 1951.2 color:pvda text:Drees I at: 1952.7 color:pvda text:~Drees II shift:(7,12) at: 1956.8 color:pvda text:~ ~Drees III shift:(1,12) at: 1959.0 color:cda text:Beel II shift:(3,12) at: 1959.4 color:cda text:~De Quay at: 1963.6 color:cda text:~ ~Marijnen at: 1965.3 color:cda text:Cals at: 1966.9 color:cda text:~Zijlstra at: 1967.3 color:cda text:~ ~De Jong at: 1971.5 color:cda text:Biesheuvel I at: 1972.6 color:cda text:~Biesheuvel II at: 1973.4 color:pvda text:~ ~Den Uyl at: 1978.0 color:cda text:Van Agt I at: 1981.7 color:cda text:~Van Agt II at: 1982.4 color:cda text:~ ~Van Agt III
Colors = id:yellow value:rgb(0.7,0.7,1) # light yellow id:pvda value:rgb(1,0.4,0.4) # light red id:cda value:rgb(0.4,0.8,0.4) # light green id:vvd value:rgb(0.5,0.5,1) # blue id:vdb value:rgb(1,0.7,1) # light purple id:black value:black id:grey value:rgb(0.7,0.7,0.7)
Period = from:1982 till:2025TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1985ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1982
PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:50 shift:(5,12) align:left bar:yellow color:yellow
from: 1982.8 till: 1986.5 color:cda from: 1986.5 till: 1989.9 color:cda from: 1989.9 till: 1994.6 color:cda from: 1994.6 till: 1998.6 color:pvda from: 1998.6 till: 2002.6 color:pvda from: 2002.6 till: 2003.4 color:cda from: 2003.4 till: 2006.5 color:cda from: 2006.5 till: 2007.1 color:cda from: 2007.1 till: 2010.8 color:cda from: 2010.8 till: 2012.8 color:vvd from: 2012.8 till: 2017.8 color:vvd from: 2017.8 till: 2022.03 color:vvd from: 2022.03 till: 2024.5 color:vvd from: 2024.5 till: 2025 color:grey at: 1982.8 text:Lubbers I at: 1986.5 text:~Lubbers II at: 1989.9 text:~ ~Lubbers III at: 1994.6 text:Kok I at: 1998.6 text:~Kok II at: 2002.6 text:Balkenende I at: 2003.4 text:~Balkenende II shift:(3,12) at: 2006.5 text:~ ~Balkenende III shift:(5,12) at: 2007.1 text:~ ~ ~Balkenende IV at: 2010.8 text:Rutte I at: 2012.8 text:~Rutte II at: 2017.8 text:~ ~Rutte III at: 2022.03 text:~ ~ ~Rutte IV at: 2024.5 text:~ ~ ~Schoof
The Cabinet of the Netherlands also takes responsibility for day-to-day affairs in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is distinct from the Netherlands, as it also includes the constituent countries of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint-Maarten. If affairs are decided which are of vital importance of the Kingdom as a whole, the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands is joined by a Minister Plenipotentiary for Aruba, Curaçao and Sint-Maarten to form the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom.
There are different types of cabinets: