Dick Schoof, the former head of the Dutch intelligence service, is to become the new prime minister of the Netherlands, the incoming right-wing government announced on Tuesday.
Schoof, 67, is currently serving in the top civil servant job at the Justice Ministry. Prior to that he was head of the Dutch counter-terrorism unit and Dutch intelligence agency (AIVD).
He has no current party affiliation.
Geert Wilders' nationalist and right-wing Party for Freedom scored a dramatic victory in November's general election but not enough to govern outright.
It took months for the anti-Islam and anti-immigration firebrand to persuade other parties to join him in a coalition.
To make the coalition possible, Wilders said he would not seek to be prime minister and renounced some of his most controversial demands, such as the ban on mosques.
Wilders finally announced two weeks ago that he had agreed a four-way coalition with the liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the conservative New Social Contract (NSC) party and the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB).
Wilders said Schoof "stands above the parties and has our trust."
It is expected to take several weeks for the new Cabinet to be finalized.