Former spy chief Dick Schoof proposed as Dutch PM

Schoof, 67, is currently the top official at the justice ministry and a former head of the Dutch intelligence service.

Dutch right-wing coalition parties have nominated former security chief Dick Schoof as their preferred candidate to become the Netherlands’ next prime minister.

Schoof, 67, is currently the top official at the justice ministry and a former head of the Dutch intelligence and immigration services. After nearly six months of debate within the coalition, Schoof will succeed outgoing premier Mark Rutte.

“On the recommendation of, and with the support of the parliamentary coalition leaders… I have found Mr Dick Schoof willing to be available as the intended prime minister,” Richard van Zwol, the official tasked with leading talks to form a new Dutch government, said on Tuesday.

Despite a stunning election victory in November, far-right leader Geert Wilders gave up his ambition to lead the European Union’s fifth-largest economy amid widespread unease over his anti-Islam, anti-European views.

Wilders and other coalition leaders asked Schoof, who originally came from the left-wing Labour Party but is seen as an official able to tackle threats from inside the Netherlands and abroad, to take the role.