THE HAGUE, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Almost six months after the general elections in the Netherlands, a deal on a new center-right-wing government was finally struck on Wednesday.
The new Dutch government will consist of the far-right populist Party for Freedom (PVV), the center-right party New Social Contract (NSC), the right-wing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the farmers movement BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB).
"It could be an historic day," said PVV leader Geert Wilders on Wednesday morning.
The outline agreement written by the party leaders will now be checked by all parties, in order to reach a "program agreement;" a deal between the parties on how to handle several issues, without going into details. It is no secret that the new government will take a harder line on migration than previous governments.
In the forthcoming weeks, the parties will further discuss who will take several ministers' positions and who will succeed Mark Rutte as prime minister.
In an earlier phase of negotiations, the parties had already agreed that Wilders, who is controversial for his anti-Islam stance, will not become the new prime minister. However, he remains seated in the House of Representatives, like the other three party leaders.
The PVV won the general elections in the Netherlands on Nov. 22, 2023 by a landslide, and negotiations on a center-right-wing majority government started afterwards with the NSC, the VVD and the BBB. After several months of hard negotiations, the four parties finally came to an agreement on Wednesday. ■