VVD MP Mariel Pohl becomes Minister of Education to replace Dennis Wielsma

Member of Parliament Mariel Paul (VVD) will take over as interim minister of primary and secondary education, the government information department RVD confirmed on Tuesday. The MP, who has been the VVD’s representative in the House of Commons since 2021, is scheduled to be sworn in as Dennis Weersma’s replacement on Friday.

Mr. Vielsma resigned in June following renewed complaints about his actions. He was already under fire at the time for his pattern of obnoxious and toxic behavior toward officials. He apologized for this, but was later the subject of another complaint about his explosive temper. Caretaker Chancellor Mark Rutte said last week that the new education minister was likely to be a woman.

Paul spoke on behalf of the VVD party on topics such as education and dealing with the child benefit scandal. VVD politicians will serve as members of the Caretaker Cabinet. Prime Minister Rutte offered to resign from his cabinet earlier this month after the two parties failed to agree on new measures to deal with the asylum crisis. The Tweed Comer election will take place on 22 November, after which the parties will negotiate to form a new coalition government.

Tweed Comer, the House of Representatives, decides whether the Caretaker Cabinet can decide policy until a new cabinet is formed. The House of Representatives is set to decide in September which policy issues are debatable and cannot be addressed before the new cabinet is sworn in.

By the way, Paul’s predecessor was also appointed to the interim cabinet as his first ministerial post. The former cabinet, Rutte III, was in the interim government for almost a year, and there was a lot of cabinet turnover.

“I’m very happy that she said yes. She’s very good. She knows the terrain very well,” Rutte said. “And for the first time, we have a Council of Ministers with only 11 women and 9 men. As you know, we continue to strive for gender equality, but only if it is of equal aptitude. increase.”

Interim Education, Culture and Science Minister Robert Dyckgraf congratulated Paul on his “honorable appointment”. Deichgraf took over Vielsma’s duties in recent weeks.