Dutch Party Wants Akzo's CEO for Cabinet

Dutch social-liberal party D66 wants to put Akzo Nobel's chief executive Hans Wijers forward for a cabinet position if it enters government after next week's election, the party's leader told business newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad.

Party leader Alexander Pechtold said in an interview published Friday that D66 would be in charge of reform efforts in any government and that it needed people like Wijers. Wijers, one of the country's most prominent businessmen and also one of the best-known D66 members, has been consistently mentioned as a top choice for the next cabinet should D66 take part in the new coalition.

But Wijers, a former minister of economic affairs, has said he is not interested in returning to government, and a spokesman for Dutch chemicals group Akzo reiterated that stance to the paper.

The financial spokesman for the Liberals (VVD), who lead the polls for next week's vote, said on Thursday that D66 could be a good partner in a coalition government