New cabinet can get started
The ministers of the new Rutte III cabinet have just been sworn in. Ingrid van Engelshoven (D66) of the two ministers of OCW is in charge of the department. Arie Slob (ChristenUnie) is a minister 'without portfolio'.
Image: Valerie Kuypers / National Government
Yesterday it was announced exactly what the division of tasks between the two ministers looks like. In any case, the MBO portfolio will go to Van Engelshoven. D66 had not mentioned this during her presentation as candidate minister, which led to the necessary outrage: how could such an important education sector be forgotten?
Wallets
Van Engelshoven thus has all the portfolios that her predecessor Jet Bussemaker (PvdA) also had, including higher education and science policy, teacher training and adult education. The 'green' education has been added to this: think of the programs of Wageningen University, and of the agricultural programs in higher professional education and vocational education. These are no longer the responsibility of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
To make the difference with Minister Van Engelshoven of OCW clear, Arie Slob is called Minister for Primary and Secondary Education and Media. In a constitutional sense, he is a minister 'without portfolio': that means that he is not entrusted with the management of the ministry. But he does have wallets. Primary, secondary and special education come under him and he also deals with the policy of employment conditions for teaching staff. He is also responsible for media policy.
Ministers
The 51-year-old Van Engelshoven has been in the Lower House for D66 since March this year, but is certainly not a rookie in politics. During her student days she was chair of the Nijmegen department of D66. She became an employee of the D66 faction in the House of Representatives and as party chairman, from 2007 to 2013, she helped D66 out of the doldrums, together with Alexander Pechtold. In 2010 she became the education councilor and later deputy mayor of The Hague. There she advocated for more equality in education.
Second Minister Arie Slob (1961) of the ChristenUnie is a historian and has worked as a social studies teacher in secondary education. Until 2015 he was party leader in the House of Representatives for the Christian Union. In 2016-2017 he was director of the Historical Center Overijssel in Zwolle.
