Doing Business in the Netherlands 2012 - American Chamber of ...

serve markets in the current and future Member States of the
European Union, the Middle East and Africa.
1.3 Government
Head of State Queen Beatrix
Head of Government Prime Minister Mark Rutte
Form of Government Constitutional monarchy
Seat of Government The Hague
The Netherlands was one of the first parliamentary democracies.
Among other affiliations, the country is a founding member of the
European Union (EU), NATO, OECD and WTO. With Belgium and
Luxembourg, it forms the Benelux economic union. The Netherlands
itself is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system in
which the government consists of the queen, the ministers and the
state secretaries. For historical reasons, The Hague is the seat of
government but Amsterdam is the capital.
As of 14 October 2010, the Netherlands has a minority government.
This cabinet consists of the People’s Party for Freedom and
Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). The
Party for Freedom (PVV) provides tolerance support (gedoogsteun).
This structure is the product of coalition agreement with tolerance.
All three parties have agreed to sign the grace, but only the VVD and
CDA have also signed the coalition. Mark Rutte is the Prime
Minister, while Queen Beatrix is the Head of State.
There are 12 ministers, most of whom are also heads of specific
government ministries, although there are often one or two ministers
without portfolio who have areas of responsibility inside one or more
ministries. Most ministries also have a state secretary who is
responsible for part of the relevant portfolio. Two state secretaries
(namely, those for European Affairs and International Trade) are
given the right to call themselves “minister” in other countries and be
treated as such for protocol purposes, while not having any of the
domestic rights given specifically to ministers.
12 Baker & McKenzie