In this article we discuss government formation after the parliamentary elections in 2014 in a historical and comparative European context, while at the same time connecting our discussion to the research on government formation and duration in parliamentary democracies. The paper raises and tries to answer the following questions: Why did the Social Democrats form a minority government with the Green Party after the parliamentary elections in 2014, excluding the Left party? What can we say about the allocation of ministerial portfolios between the Social Democrats and the Green Party in the new government? And what are the consequences of the so called December agreement between the new government on its ability to govern and survive until the next regular election in 2018?