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Former spy chief Dick Schoof has been chosen as the next prime minister of the Netherlands, to lead a populist coalition government that includes the far right.
Schoof, 67, who led the Dutch intelligence service AIVD until 2020, was nominated by far-right Freedom party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders and approved by his coalition partners on Tuesday.
“I especially want to be a prime minister for all Dutch people,” he told a press conference in The Hague. “I have always felt involved in the governance of our country and have always wanted to play my part in it.”
Wilders described Schoof as “non-partisan”, having integrity and being “very sympathetic”.
A career civil servant who is currently serving as the top official within the Dutch ministry of justice, Schoof has had a long record in national security-related jobs and headed the immigration service between 1999 and 2003.
He was appointed national co-ordinator for counterterrorism in 2013, overseeing the response to the shooting-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine after leaving Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.
In 2022, a Dutch court convicted three men with links to the Russian military of murder in connection with the plane’s downing, which killed all passengers onboard, including 196 Dutch nationals.
Schoof was also responsible for internal security, tackling Islamist radicalisation and the recruitment of Isis fighters in the Netherlands.
Anti-Islam firebrand Wilders, who lives under armed guard after receiving death threats, has been convicted of stoking anti-Muslim sentiment. In recent months, as he was seeking to secure a coalition deal with other parties, Wilders dropped his most incendiary policies such as banning the Koran and closing down mosques and Islamic schools.
The three other parties — the conservative New Social Contract, the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement and the conservative liberal VVD party of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte — only agreed to form a coalition with the Freedom party if Wilders gave up his claim to become prime minister.
Rutte, 57, who headed four coalitions at the helm of the VVD, is expected to become Nato secretary-general.
The four-way coalition approved the outlines of a government programme earlier this month: they want to cut immigration, including of well-paid executives, freeze government salaries and reduce development aid.
The programme would also roll back some environmental policies, saving livestock farms from closure, but will have to negotiate with Brussels to get approval.
The parties also oppose new joint borrowing by the EU for defence spending, and want to reduce future contributions to the EU budget. They are sceptical about allowing more countries to join the bloc.
While they agreed on the programme, the four parties failed to endorse Wilders’ original pick for leader, who stepped down because he was being investigated for possible fraud. Ronald Plasterk, a former minister from the Dutch Labour party, said the probe was a distraction.
The newspaper NRC reported he was accused of claiming sole credit for a patent for a new cancer therapy, earning him millions of euros. The treatment built on research at the university and former colleagues claimed they should also have benefited.
Plasterk has denied any wrongdoing.
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