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The man tipped to be the next prime minister of the Netherlands has apologised to a party leader holding up his nomination, the latest sign of the fragility of a four-way coalition led by the far right.
Ronald Plasterk, the Dutch Labour MP expected to become prime minister, wrote an open letter in the Telegraaf newspaper on Friday admitting he was wrong to discuss behind-the-scenes events involving Pieter Omtzigt, leader of the centre-right New Social Contract party. Omtzigt has agreed for the NSC to join the new government but has yet to endorse Plasterk as prime minister.
The hold-up underscores persistent tensions within the four-way coalition that for the first time in Dutch history is led by the Freedom party (PVV) of anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders. PVV won the election in November but it has taken six months for the coalition to form, and only after Wilders agreed not to become prime minister.
People close to the process say Plasterk, who was nominated by Wilders, could be approved on Friday. But it would still take many weeks to form the government, with Mark Rutte remaining in place in the interim.
Rutte’s conservative liberal VVD and the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement are the other two coalition partners that signed off on the outlines of a government programme on Thursday that puts the government on a collision course with Brussels on migration, climate and energy policies.
Omtzigt earlier this year walked out of coalition talks in dramatic fashion. Plasterk, who at the time was appointed by parliament to lead the negotiations, said his official car was used by Omtzigt to travel to a hotel in The Hague to brief journalists.
Omtzigt is an anti-corruption campaigner who strongly rejected the allegation that he had misused a public service.
“It was unnecessary and misplaced,” Plasterk admitted in the article.
He added that he had been “asked a lot how I look back” on his statement to parliament that Omtzigt used his car. “I would like to state that I should not have done that. I personally apologised to Pieter Omtzigt afterward.”
Plasterk is also facing an investigation by the University of Amsterdam Medical Centre. He is a professor of epidemiology and data science.
The newspaper NRC reported that he was accused of not sharing credit for a patent for a new cancer therapy, earning him millions of euros. The treatment was built on research at the university.
The university said the investigation began at the beginning of May. “It may take a few more weeks before it is completed,” it said.
Plasterk could not be reached for comment.
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