The ministries have to reorganize with each new cabinet, because the division of tasks within the cabinet usually changes. Who will work for which minister and which minister will be responsible for how much money? The great reshuffle has begun.
This week, carpet was laid in the rooms of the new ministers at Bezuidenhoutseweg 73. The building was equipped with a new ‘ministerial corridor’ during the Christmas recess. Everything must be ready by Monday, so that the new agricultural ministers Henk Staghouwer and Christianne van der Wal can start work immediately after their first council of ministers.
Since 2010, the office building next to the temporary House of Representatives has housed two ministries: Economic Affairs and Climate, and Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. During the previous cabinet, three ministers headed these ministries: Minister Eric Wiebes (EZK), Minister Carola Schouten (LNV) and State Secretary Mona Keijzer (EZK). In the much more spaciously occupied fourth Rutte cabinet, there are suddenly five. Schouten sat next to Wiebes in the hallway, but the two agriculture ministers now have their own place on the western side of the building.
‘From’ or ‘for’?
There have never been so many ‘ministers without portfolios’ in a cabinet since the Second World War. Only four of the twelve ministries will have one minister in house. From a constitutional point of view, the ‘minister of’ is in charge of the department and the ‘minister for’ is the junior minister. In principle, the ‘minister of’ deals with the budget. This potentially places the ‘minister for’ in a dependent position, in which he must always beg the ‘minister of’ for money in order to be able to implement policy plans.
That sometimes caused problems in the past. For example, Ella Vogelaar (Minister for Housing, Neighborhoods and Integration in the Balkenende IV cabinet) had to improve urban deprived areas without receiving a euro budget for this. For each plan she had to extort money from colleagues who, of course, would rather spend it on their own goals.
Administrative renewal
D66 members Thom de Graaf and Alexander Pechtold were allowed to become ministers for Administrative Renewal in the second Balkenende cabinet one after the other. However, the two other government parties, CDA and VVD, saw little in the way of democratic renewal. As a result, De Graaf and Pechtold were allowed to sit on the Council of Ministers, but in fact hardly got anything done. André Rouvoet suffered a similar fate as Minister for Youth and Families.
Behind their backs, some ministers without portfolios were scornfully called ‘Minister for Bacon and Beans’. The term ‘minister without a portfolio’ causes confusion, because these ministers naturally have a range of tasks. Nowadays people prefer to speak of ‘project ministers’ or ‘program ministers’.
Sitting on the leaves
The eight project ministers of Rutte IV must negotiate well, says public administration expert Jouke de Vries. ‘They have to make firm agreements and ensure that they are allocated their own budget and sufficient civil servants. Everyone would like to become a minister, so if they forget to negotiate in their enthusiasm, they will be on the brink for three years.’
De Vries foresees problems at the Ministry of LNV if Staghouwer (ChristenUnie) and Van der Wal (VVD) do not make proper agreements. ‘Hopefully they get along well and are politically on the same page, even if they are from different parties. Van der Wal can of course never solve the nitrogen problem if Staghouwer, who is responsible for the farmers, does not cooperate.’
Turret
Not much needs to change at the ministries this time. Formation spokesman Stephan Schrover says that the new cabinet wants to change as little as possible in the division of tasks between ministries, in order to prevent major reorganisations. Creating and dismantling ministries always causes ‘a lot of organizational hassle’ and this new cabinet does not want to ‘waste time and energy on that’.
The most changes are made on Bezuidenhoutseweg 73. In December it was decided that General Affairs will also move there temporarily, including Prime Minister Rutte and the meeting room for the Councils of Ministers. The ministry still needs to be rebuilt for that. The Prime Minister will remain in his Torentje for the time being; his move to B73 is not planned until mid-2023.