Sigrid Kaag gets on a table and performs a cheering dance.

An early extrapolation on the evening of the election has just predicted an excellent result for the left-liberal party D66.

Top candidate Kaag is in the best mood in the party headquarters in The Hague - the film of it quickly makes the rounds, a photo published by the party from this March evening becomes one of the most famous political pictures of the year in the Netherlands;

international media also pick up on the dancing Kaag.

Klaus Max Smolka

Editor in business.

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The winner of the election was Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose right-wing liberal party VVD asserted itself as the strongest parliamentary group. But the left-wing liberals came in second place, with 24 of the 150 seats in a fragmented parliament - financially supported, incidentally, little noticed, before the election with one million euros for Dutch technology entrepreneur Steven Schuurman. He also donated for the “Party for the Animals” and later became known in Germany as the entrepreneur who donated 1.25 million euros to the Greens. In the Netherlands, the gift raised eyebrows from some citizens.

Almost ten months later, Kaag harvested the biggest fruit from the election result.

If nothing unexpected happens, she will be sworn in by King Willem-Alexander and the other cabinet members on Monday - as the new finance minister.

This week, Rutte met all the candidates, twenty ministers and nine state secretaries, for one-on-one talks.

The change in the finance department should also be significant for foreign countries, because Kaag and her party D66 are considered to be extremely pro-European.

And according to domestic commentators, it should follow a softer line towards highly indebted countries in the euro zone.

The finance department is considered to be more important

The 60-year-old Kaag was actually close to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in terms of her career. The qualified Middle East specialist worked in the diplomatic service and held various positions at the UN, for example as the regional director of the UNICEF children's aid organization for the Middle East and North Africa. In 2017 she became Minister for Development in The Hague and Foreign Minister for a short time in 2021. On the one hand, however, the finance department is considered to be more important because the decisions at European level are largely shaped by the prime minister and finance minister. The now still managing finance minister, Christian Democrat Wopke Hoekstra, who would undoubtedly have liked to keep the office, is now foreign minister, which is quite ironic - in 2020 he incurred the anger of states calling for help in the struggle for the EU's Corona fund. Hoekstra had insisted onwhat should be taken for granted: that member countries adhere to the rules. But he was criticized for appearing undiplomatically.

On the other hand, Kaag's career as Foreign Minister in 2021 was even shorter than expected, after a few months in office she resigned. The reason: the chaotic evacuation operation of the West in Afghanistan. The opposition and the coalition partner Christian Union supported a motion of disapproval for Kaag. This is a weaker form of the vote of no confidence and does not enforce any consequences. But in April Kaag reprimanded Rutte for not resigning after a political affair, despite precisely one such motion for disapproval from Parliament. It was now difficult to avoid her resignation.

D66 had the first access to the post with the strong performance as the second strongest party.

In the current climate, in which personal details are often about gender and identity, there was rarely no mention in the media that she would be the first woman in office.

There is also no missing information that half of 20 departments are occupied by women.

In addition, two experts stand out on the D66 ticket who appear alongside classic career politicians: the clinic director Ernst Kuipers for health and the physics professor Robbert Dijkgraaf for education.

"We are facing major decisions"

With the post of finance minister, Kaag secures the decisive influence next to Rutte, she just made that clear herself. “We are facing major decisions and major investments: in education; in climate management; in a strong Europe. The role of the finance minister is crucial in the responsible execution of these plans. ”She has no economic expertise or experience with budgetary policy - her current predecessor Hoekstra is a lawyer but also holds an MBA.

On the international stage that Kaag is so fond of, she will also play in this office: in the EU and in dealing with global financial organizations.

Hoekstra led a group of small countries called the "thrifty" to fight high budget deficits in the EU.

This line is likely to change now.

The coalition agreement states that the government will "constructively" tackle a "modernization" of the Stability Pact.

"There will be a different tone and a more open attitude," said Kaag on the subject of EU-Netherlands relations.