cabinet
[noun]
[het ka-bi-net, de ka-bi-net-ten]
In case you missed it: the Netherlands has a new cabinet since last week. The liberal party VVD (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) and the CDA (Christian Democratic Appeal) have joined forces in the first minority cabinet since World War II – and the first liberal prime minister since 1918.
Examples:
– "Na 127 dagen formeren is het kabinet-Rutte op 14 oktober gestart."
("After 127 days of negotiations to form a government, Rutte's Cabinet started on October 14.")
– "Het kabinet-Rutte I is het eerste minderheidskabinet sinds de Tweede Wereldoorlog."
("Rutte's first Cabinet is the first minority cabinet since World War II.")
– "Voor een meederheidskabinet zijn tenminste 76 van de 150 zetels in de Tweede Kamer nodig."
("For a majority cabinet, at least 76 of 150 seats in the Second Chamber [House of Commons] are required.")
– "Het kabinet-Rutte heeft 52 zetels, en haalt met steun van Wilders' party PVV 76 zetels."
("Rutte's Cabinet has 52 seats, and reaches 76 seats with support of Wilders' party PVV.")
– "De meeste leden van het kabinet Rutte I zijn zeer ervaren politici, de vijftig gepasseerd en man."
("Most members of Rutte's first Cabinet are very experienced politicians, over fifty, and male.")
Related words:
– Verkiezingen: elections [noun] [de verkiezing, de verkiezingen].
– Kabinetsformatie: the formation of a cabinet [noun] [de formatie, de formaties].
Extra:
The support that WIlders' party PVV gives to the cabinet is called "gedoogsteun". The Dutch are known worldwide for their "gedogen" of soft drugs: even though illegal by law, offenders are not persecuted. In the case of Wilders' PVV, the party gives "gedoogsteun" to the minority cabinet, i.e. a party supports the cabinet even though the party is formally an opposition party. The support is agreed on in a formal agreement, the "gedoogakkoord".
“Het kabinet-Rutte heeft 52 zetels, en haalt met steun van Wilders’ party PVV 76 zetels.”
Would it also be possible phrase this sentence like this, or would this sound wrong?:
“Het kabinet-Rutte heeft 52 zetels, en haalt 76 zetels met steun van Wilders’ party PVV.”
Some side issues:
1) Is ‘formeren’ the same as ‘onderhandelen’? Are they interchangeable in sentences? This sounds logical:
“Na 127 dagen onderhandelen is het kabinet-Rutte op 14 oktober gestart.”
But I guess not so, if the object of the negotiations is to beat a price down, when ‘onderhandelen’ is better.
2) Would this be a correct usage of ‘gedogen’?
“Hij heeft absoluut geen gedogen voor mensen met andere meningen.”
@Carl – yes you can also phrase it the way you suggest. I guess a difference could be that the latter option allows one to put extra emphasis on the ’76 zetels’. But really it doesn’t matter. The main sentence is ‘Het kabinet haalt 76 zetels’ and the “met steun van Wilders’ partij” is additional info that you can insert or put at the end.
@SM – good questions 🙂
‘Formeren’ is not the same as ‘onderhandelen’ and basically translates as ‘to form’; however the process of ‘formeren’ in case of a ‘kabinet’ comes down to negotiating and formally agreeing. And I guess that’s why Laura chose to emphasize with ‘onderhandelen’.
Regarding ‘gedogen’; I only know the verb ‘gedogen’ so my guess is one cannot use it the way you suggest.
Hope this helps!