The Dutch government is expected to spend between €6 million and €9 million on changing the names of ministries to reflect the new cabinet’s priorities, research by RTL Nieuws has uncovered.

The biggest outlay will go on rebranding the agriculture ministry as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, which will cost an estimated €3-€5 million.

Caroline van der Plas, leader of the farmers’ party BBB, said restoring fisheries to the name after a 21-year absence would ensure that “fishing again becomes a fully valued part of the ministry”.

The Ministry for Climate and Green Growth is being created as an offshoot of the economic affairs ministry, while new departments include the Ministry for Asylum and Migration and the Ministry for Housing and Public Space.

Other departments are being abolished or folded into others, such as the Ministry for Nature and Nitrogen Policy, which was established when Mark Rutte’s fourth cabinet took office in 2022 and lasted for two and a half years.

Most of the costs associated with rebadging ministries involve designing new signs and logos and recalibrating IT systems. The economic affairs and housing ministries told RTL they had saved 80% of the potential costs by not changing staff email addresses.

But MPs criticised the expense, contrasting it with the cabinet’s pledge to make €1 billion worth of cuts to education, healthcare and international aid and increase VAT for consumers on a range of products including books and theatre tickets.

New directors

“This cabinet wants to save 22% on civil servants, but the new ministries will all have new directors,” D66 MP Joost Sneller pointed out. “They don’t get out of bed for nothing: they’re often the most expensive [appointments].”

Renaming ministries has become a more frequent exercise as the life expectancy of cabinets has reduced: Dick Schoof’s administration is the seventh to take office in the last 18 years, while the previous seven cabinets lasted 24 years altogether.

In 2019 Mark Rutte’s third cabinet spent nearly €32 million on rebranding, €2 million of which went on changing the Ministry for Security and Justice into the Ministry for Justice and Security.