Ministry of General Affairs (Netherlands)

Ministry of General Affairs

Ministerie van Algemene Zaken
Coat of arms of the Netherlands
Building of the Ministry of General Affairs
Department overview
Formed	3 July 1937 (1937-07-03)
Jurisdiction	Kingdom of the Netherlands
Headquarters	Binnenhof 19, The Hague, Netherlands
Employees	400
Annual budget	€1,7 million (2015)[1]
Minister responsible	Mark Rutte, Minister of General Affairs
Website	Ministry of General Affairs

The Ministry of General Affairs (Dutch: Ministerie van Algemene Zaken; AZ) is the Dutch ministry responsible for Government policy, planning, information and the Dutch royal house. The Ministry was created in 1937 and dissolved in 1945, but in 1947 it was reinstated by Prime Minister Louis Beel. The Ministry remained small until 1967, when it was greatly expanded by Prime Minister Piet de Jong. Since his premiership the Ministry has continued to expand to the present day.

The Ministry is headed by the Minister of General Affairs, who is also the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, currently Mark Rutte.

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The Ministry is comparable to the German Chancellery, the British Cabinet Office or the U.S. Executive Office of the President, but its designation as a Ministry emphasises the role of Prime Minister of the Netherlands as primus inter pares among the ministers of the government.

The Ministry has three responsibilities: coordination of government policy, the Dutch Royal House, and government communications about the royal house and government policy. The Ministry also houses the Secretariat of the Cabinet of the Netherlands.

The main offices of the Ministry are located in the Binnenhof, the political centre of the Netherlands. With only about 400 employees, it is by far the smallest Ministry in the Netherlands.

The most important divisions of the Ministry of General Affairs are:

• The Office of the Prime Minister (Het Kabinet van de Minister-President);
• The Netherlands Government Information Service (Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst or RVD).

The following are also parts of the Ministry, but operate with a degree of autonomy:

• The Scientific Council for Government Policy (Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid or WRR);
• The Commission of Dutch Intelligence Services (Commissie van Toezicht op de Inlichtingen en Veiligheidsdiensten).

List of Ministers of General Affairs

For a list of the Ministers of General Affairs, see List of Prime Ministers of the Netherlands.

References

External links

• (in Dutch) Ministry of General Affairs Rijksoverheid