Leaders of 4 Dutch parties open to renewing coalition

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Leaders of the four parties that made up the last coalition government in the Netherlands have agreed to join forces for another four-year term. Thursday’s decision came more than six months after the country’s general election. The parties will now sketch out a brief policy blueprint and select ministers. Only then can a government be sworn in by King Willem-Alexander. Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte is expected to lead the new Dutch government, which would be his fourth. He insists it won’t be more of the same even though the coalition includes the same four parties. They are Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, the centrist D66, the Christian Democrats and the Christian Union.