Nearly Half Of New Dutch Cabinet Members Are Women

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's fourth Cabinet, which is due to be sworn into office on January 10, will feature 29 portfolios, 14 of which are to be filled by women, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Photo Insert: Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius is set to become minister of justice and security.

The names and positions of the Cabinet members were announced on Sunday by the four parties that form Rutte's coalition government. Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius, born in Ankara, is set to become minister of justice and security.

The 43-year-old, who came to the Netherlands as a girl, was nominated by the center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), to which Rutte also belongs. The current minister of the interior, Kajsa Ollongren, will become the new defense minister.

The Christian Democratic politician Wopke Hoekstra will be the new foreign minister. His previous post as finance minister will go to the former foreign minister Sigrid Kaag from the socially liberal D66 party. Kaag resigned from his last post after the chaotic withdrawal of Dutch troops from Afghanistan in September.

After the longest coalition negotiations in Dutch history, the four governing parties that made up the old government - as well as the next one - presented their coalition agreement in December. The parties have agreed to invest billions in the fight against climate change and to reform housing and social policy.

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