House of Representatives reappoints Ms Edith Schippers as informateur
On Wednesday 17 May 2017, the House of Representatives reappointed Edith Schippers as informateur in the Cabinet formation process, in a debate on the foundered negotiations between the parliamentary groups VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks. Schippers was assigned the task to investigate, in the short term, the various possibilities for the formation of a new Cabinet that can rely on a productive co-operation with both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House of Representatives Khadija Arib will inform His Majesty the King on the outcome of the debate.
Consultations with the chairs of the parliamentary groups
At the House of Representatives' request informateur Schippers is to explore new options for the formation of a Cabinet. In order to do so, Schippers will invite the chairs of all thirteen parliamentary groups for a one-to-one consultation. In order to lose as little time as possible, Schippers already started the consultations on Wednesday 17 May at 4 p.m.
Final report
On Tuesday 16 May, informateur Edith Schippers presented her final report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Khadija Arib. In her report Schippers elaborates on the foundered negotiations between the parliamentary groups VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks and explains that due to the absence of an agreement on the subject of migration 'the common ground required to continue the negotiations and work out an agreement is lacking'.
Foundered negotiations
On Monday 15 May, informateur Schippers informed the President of the House of Representatives Arib about the foundering of the discussions regarding the formation of a new Cabinet between the parliamentary groups VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks. According to its Rules of Procedure the House of Representatives is to formulate a new assignment to explore the possibilities for the formation of a new Cabinet and to appoint one or more informateurs to carry out the task. On Tuesday 16 May, Ms Arib talked to the chairs of the thirteen parliamentary groups about the next steps to be taken in the process of the formation, in the Smoking Room of the House of Representatives.