Former spy chief expected to be new prime minister of the Netherlands

A former spy chief was tipped as the new Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

Former head of the Dutch spy agency and counter-terrorism office Dick Schoof was tipped on Tuesday to become the nation’s new Prime Minister.

The 67-year-old will lead a coalition dominated by Geert Wilders’ radical right-wing Freedom Party.

The coalition is also made up of the centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, centrist New Social Contract and the Farmer-Citizen Movement.

Schoof is currently the top civil servant at the Ministry of Security and Justice.

Wilders congratulated him in a post on X, saying he “has a great track record, is non-partisan and therefore above the parites, has integrity and is also very likeable.”

Anti-Islam firebrand Wilders, who topped the polls in last year’s elections, struck a deal with the other party leaders earlier this month – capping months of negotiations that left it unclear who would become the new Dutch prime minister.

The new agreement, framed with the slogan “Hope, courage and pride”, includes plans to impose strict measures on asylum seekers, scrap family reunification for refugees and reduce the number of international students studying in the country.

At one point, the 26-page document says the government will seek to “deport people without a valid residence permit as much as possible, even forcibly”.

Wilders’s preferred candidate for prime minister withdrew last week following allegations he had been involved in medical patent fraud.