By Necva Tastan Sevinc
ISTANBUL (AA) - The Netherlands formally installed a new minority government on Monday led by Rob Jetten, who at 38 became the youngest prime minister in the country’s history, following a swearing-in ceremony at Huis ten Bosch Palace overseen by King Willem-Alexander.
All ministers and state secretaries in the new administration have now taken office, according to official updates, the Dutch news broadcaster NOS reported.
The Cabinet consists of 18 ministers and 10 state secretaries. Ministers who already served in the previous government did not need to take the oath again, while state secretaries did.
The coalition distribution gives D66 10 ministers, VVD nine, and CDA eight, while one state secretary tasked with addressing the childcare benefits scandal will serve as a non-partisan appointee.
After the ceremony, ministers posed on the palace steps for the traditional official photograph, a ritual from which state secretaries are excluded.
Earlier in the morning, Jetten and the monarch signed royal decrees formalizing the transfer of power.
The swearing-in marked the third new Dutch Cabinet in just over four years.
A small protest took place outside the palace gates, where about 20 Extinction Rebellion activists briefly blocked an access road, accusing the incoming government of insufficient climate action and of continuing previous migration policies.
Outgoing Prime Minister Dick Schoof, whose Cabinet collapsed last summer after coalition partners withdrew over policy disputes, wished the new leadership success in a farewell message, saying: “Their success is our success, as a country.”