The second Rutte cabinet, also called the Rutte–Asscher cabinet, was the

executive branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

of the

Government of the Netherlands The Netherlands is a Parliamentary system, parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a Decentralization, decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. ...

from 5 November 2012 until 26 October 2017. The cabinet was formed by the conservative-liberal

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party (Netherl ...

(VVD) and the

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

Labour Party (PvdA) after the election of 2012. The cabinet was a

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

and had a slim

majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. VVD Leader

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as the 14th Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO since October 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, prime minister of the Neth ...

served as

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

; prominent PvdA politician Lodewijk Asscher, a former alderman of Amsterdam, served as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

and Minister of Social Affairs and Employment. The cabinet served in the middle of the

2010s File:2010s collage v22.png, From top left, clockwise: Anti-government protests called the Arab Spring arose in 2010–2011, and as a result, many governments were overthrown, including when Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was Death of Muammar Gad ...

. Domestically, it had to deal with the

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian-backed forces with a Buk missile system, Bu ...

disaster, in which 193 Dutch citizens on board were killed when that civilian aircraft was shot down over Ukraine by a

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

; while internationally,

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

was a major point of attention. The cabinet suffered several major internal conflicts such as multiple cabinet resignations, including those of two Justice Ministers. The cabinet completed its entire term, and was succeeded by the third Rutte cabinet following the 2017 election. Having spent four years and 355 days in office, it is the longest-serving post-war cabinet in the Netherlands.

Cabinet members

: : : : : : : : : : :

Changes

On 6 December 2012, just 31 days after taking office, State Secretary for Economic Affairs Co Verdaas (PvdA) resigned after he was accused of making inappropriate declarations when he served as a Member of the

Provincial-Executive The provincial executive (, GS) is the executive branch of government of a province in the Netherlands. It is the equivalent of the municipal executive at the provincial level. The provincial executive consists of the King's Commissioner A Ki ...

Gelderland Gelderland ( , ), also known as Guelders ( ) in English, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Nethe ...

. He was replaced as State Secretary for Economic Affairs by former State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science Sharon Dijksma (PvdA) on 18 December 2012. On 17 October 2014

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Frans Timmermans Franciscus Cornelis Gerardus Maria Timmermans (; born 6 May 1961) is a Dutch politician who served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal and European Commissioner for Climate Action in the von der ...

(PvdA) resigned after he was nominated as the next European Commissioner succeeding

Neelie Kroes Neelie Kroes (; born 19 July 1941) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessperson who served as European Commissioner from 22 November 2004 to 1 November 2014. Kroes studied Economics at ...

. He was replaced as

Special Representative of the Secretary-General A special representative of the Secretary-General is a highly respected expert who has been appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General, Secretary-General of the United Nations to represent them in meetings with heads of state on critical huma ...

for the United Nations in Mali and former

Minister for Development Cooperation The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Aid () is a Minister without Portfolio (Netherlands), minister without portfolio in the Netherlands. The officeholder, who is a member of the Cabinet of the Netherlands, Cabinet and the Council of M ...

Bert Koenders (PvdA). On 10 March 2015 Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten (VVD) and State Secretary for Security and Justice Fred Teeven (VVD) resigned after it was discovered that Fred Teeven when he served as a

Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

authorized the return of 4.7 million guilders to convicted drugs dealer Cees H. in 2000 without the knowledge of his superior or the tax office. On 4 October 2017

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (VVD) resigned following a critical report by the

Dutch Safety Board The Dutch Safety Board (DSB; , OVV, literally "Investigation Council for Safety") is the official body that investigates a wide variety of safety matters in the Netherlands. It is based in The Hague.Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

soldiers who died following the use of old ammunition during a Mortar test during the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. She was replaced as

by State Secretary for Security and Justice Klaas Dijkhoff (VVD) who served out the remaining three weeks before the installation of the new cabinet.

References

External links

*
Kabinet-Rutte II
Parlement & Politiek *
Kabinet-Rutte-Asscher
Rijksoverheid

Cabinet members

Changes

References

External links

Further reading