Talks on forming a new government will resume on Monday, more than three months after the general election, with lead negotiator Kim Putters talking to all parties represented in parliament on Monday and Tuesday.

Putters said the “marathon sessions” are aimed at establishing what sort of cabinet the parties want and which ones agree on the big issues facing the Netherlands.

“A fruitful cabinet requires a common basis to work on the approach towards the big social issues,” Putters said in a briefing to all party leaders on Friday. “What role do you see for your party and with whom, under what conditions, can that role be fulfilled,” he said. 

A common basis requires not only agreement on the rule of law but on solid finances, Putters told party leaders. That means a new cabinet should not run up debts and increase the budget deficit. “And the Netherlands’ international position will also play an important part in the coming period,” he said.

The outgoing government is a staunch backer of Ukraine, for example, but far right leader Geert Wilders, who hopes to be the next prime minister, opposes sending military and other aid. Wilders also backs a Nexit and last week accused the EU of “cheap criticism” of Israel in a social media post.

GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans said last week that Wilders should not be given direct responsibility for the Netherlands’ national defence and security.

There are, he said, links between the threat presented by Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the rise of radical-right parties in the West, such as the PVV in the Netherlands, the FDI in Italy and Trump in the US. 

“I would not like to put my fate in the hands of Putin’s admirers, either here or elsewhere. Our freedom and our true sovereignty are far too dear to me for that,” Timmermans said.

Business climate

Business leaders have also raised flags about the impact of reducing immigration – which the right wing parties aim to do – on the Netherlands reputation as a good place to do business and on the economy in general.

But company bosses are most worried about the lack of stability in government – 82% of those in a NO-NCW survey said this was a problem, compared with 66% a year ago. And 60% said they do not think the November elections will lead to a stable cabinet either.

Last week Putters, who chairs the SER advisory committee, met several independent experts to hear their views on the formation of a new cabinet from a “constitutional”, “historical”, “administrative” and “international” perspective. 

Putters is the second informateur to work on putting together a new cabinet. Former minister and academic Ronald Plasterk failed in eight weeks of effort to form a right-wing alliance involving the far-right PVV.