All ministers and state secretaries of the new Dutch government, led by the new Prime Minister Rob Jetten, were sworn in on Monday.
Ministers who served in the previous government were not required to take a new oath, though the state secretaries did.
The centrist D66 party has ten members in the cabinet, while the VVD has nine and the CDA eight. State Secretary Sandra Palmen is unaffiliated with any party.
At 38 years old, Rob Jetten is officially the youngest Prime Minister in Dutch history.
Shortly after the ceremony, the ministers posed for the traditional photo on the steps of Palace Huis ten Bosch.
Earlier in the day, Dutch King Willem-Alexander signed the royal decrees formalising the resignation of outgoing Prime Minister Dick Schoof’s government. Jetten then countersigned the documents to assume ministerial accountability, which includes responsibility for the king’s actions.
The king and prime minister also decided to merge several ministries that had been split under the previous government.
Housing and Spatial Planning will once again fall under the Ministry of the Interior, Asylum and Migration returns to Justice and Security, and Climate and Green Growth is reabsorbed into Economic Affairs and Climate.
Outside the palace gates, around twenty Extinction Rebellion protesters gathered to demonstrate. They attempted to block the entrance but were unsuccessful as cabinet members had entered via another route, according to the public broadcaster NOS.
The activists accused Rob Jetten of “betraying voters,” asserting that his government is not doing enough to tackle climate change and has continued the migration policies of the previous administration.
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This article was updated at 10:42.
