Purple (government)

Purple is a common term in politics for governments or other political entities consisting of parties that have red and blue as their political colours. It is of particular note in two areas: in the politics of the Netherlands and Belgium and in the politics of the United States.

"Purple" (Dutch: Paars) is the nickname of a government coalition of social democrats and liberals, excluding Christian democrats. It is derived from the combination of the colour of the social democrats (red) and liberals (blue).

Both the Netherlands and Belgium have had such governments. In the Netherlands the two cabinets of Prime Minister Wim Kok (Kok I and Kok II, 1994–2002) were composed of social democrats (the Labour Party, PvdA), conservative liberals (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, VVD) and progressive liberals (Democrats 66).

In the 2010 Dutch cabinet formation the possibilities for a Purple-plus cabinet (the original "purple" coalition of PvdA, VVD, D66 plus GreenLeft) was investigated. Since 5 November 2012, following the 2012 Dutch general election, the VVD has been the senior partner in the second Rutte cabinet, a grand coalition Purple government with the PvdA.

In October 2013 the Second Rutte cabinet (VVD and PvdA), which has no majority in the Senate, reached a budgetary agreement with D66 and the smaller Christian parties Christian Union (CU) and the Reformed Political Party (SGP). This occasional coalition is nicknamed "purple plus the Bible" (Paars met de Bijbel) as it includes the purple parties VVD, PvdA and D66 plus the Bible-minded parties CU and SGP. The term "purple plus the Bible" had already been used in February that year, when the same parties reached an agreement on modernising the housing market. Secretary of Financial Affairs, Jeroen Dijsselbloem (PvdA) now calls D66, CU and SGP his "most beloved opposition parties". The three parties are very influential on the policy of the Second Rutte cabinet, because without the support of the three parties, new parliamentary elections are inevitable.

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