Netherlands's new coalition chooses future prime minister

The parties that formed the new coalition in the Netherlands have decided on the candidacy of the future head of government.

The 67-year-old Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice and Security, former head of the kingdom's intelligence services, Dick Schof, has been nominated for this post, NEWSru.co.il reports.

Schoof, who has already stated that he will be prime minister for all residents of the country, will have to form a cabinet and submit it to parliament for approval. It is expected that the government will take office before the end of June.

About two weeks ago, six months after parliamentary elections were held in the Netherlands, the leader of the Freedom Party that took first place in them, Geert Wilders, announced that he had managed to reach an agreement on the creation of a coalition government in the kingdom.

The coalition also included the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, the centrist New Social Contract party and the Citizen-Farmers Movement.

The right-wing populist Freedom Party, which won a record 37 seats in the elections, is pursuing an anti-Muslim course, and Wilders is known for supporting Israel. However, during the last election campaign he abandoned demands to ban the Koran, mosques and Islamic schools in the Netherlands.

The 26-page coalition agreement states that the kingdom will continue to support Ukraine and increase the defence budget to 2% of GDP. The document also contains a commitment to move the embassy to Jerusalem “when the time is right.”