New Dutch finance minister Kaag tests positive for COVID-19 day before inauguration
Sigrid Kaag, Dutch minister for foreign trade and development cooperation, speaks during a debate over remarks Prime Minister Mark Rutte made during talks to form a new government following the March 17 national elections, in The Hague, Netherlands April 2, 2021. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
- “I have tested positive for corona. It will be a slightly different start then I had hoped for”, Kaag tweeted on Sunday.
- “My installation will take place digitally. Luckily I feel fine.”
“I have tested positive for corona. It will be a slightly different start then I had hoped for”, Kaag tweeted on Sunday.
“My installation will take place digitally. Luckily I feel fine.”
Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s fourth consecutive government is set to be installed by Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Monday, almost 10 months after the last election and a year since his previous administration stepped down.
Although the government coalition consists of the same four parties that have been in charge since 2017, it took a record of almost 300 days to bring them back together after the inconclusive March 17 elections made parties more reluctant than ever to compromise.
Their installation comes amid a sharp rise in coronavirus infections due to the Omicron variant, despite a broad lockdown that has kept most public places closed since mid-December.
Former United Nations diplomat Kaag served as foreign minister in the previous government and is the leader of the second-largest party in the coalition, pro-EU D66.
Besides missing the meeting with the king, she will also be absent from the traditional photograph of the new cabinet taken on the steps of the royal palace.