Four Dutch parties officially sealed a pact Tuesday for a fragile, new coalition after a record 209 days of bargaining, unveiling plans to govern the Netherlands for the coming years. The deal, which will see the government shift more to the right, was approved by the parties' membership late Monday, and finally presented to the country - seven months after the March 15 elections.
"Today is a special moment," said speaker of the House, Khadija Arib, as she accepted the 68-page agenda which will go to the lower house of parliament. The deal sees outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte's business-friendly liberal VVD party again take the lead in running one of the European Union's top and most stable economies.
Rutte, who is due to remain as prime minister, will govern with the progressive D66 as well as two Christian parties, the pragmatic CDA and the more conservative Christian Union. He has yet to pick a new cabinet, but he hailed the incoming government's agenda, entitled "Trust in the Future", as an "ambitious and balanced" programme.
The new coalition, in theory due to last until 2021 elections, plans to pump more funds into education, defence, and security as well as pledging an extra four billion euros to battle climate change and ensure the country is "sustainable".
Following the rise of the far-right in the March polls and the collapse of the traditional left, the agenda says: "Our goal is to make a strong country even better for everyone, including those who feel that the government is no longer for them." The negotiations beat by one day the previous 208-day record, set in 1977, for the longest-ever Dutch coalition talks, exposing the fault-lines between the parties.