Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten scrambled to avert the collapse of his nine-month-old minority administration on Friday, holding hours of crisis talks in The Hague with senior coalition leaders following a bitter dispute over national tax plans.
Jetten met behind closed doors with partners in the three-party government after a bruising parliamentary debate on Thursday over fiscal proposals that exposed deep fissures within the ruling bloc. Late Friday announced that the coalition parties had agreed to continue negotiations over the coming days in an effort to salvage the administration.
“Good things have happened recently, but there are also things that are not going well, and that affects our relationships with one another,” Rob Jetten said. “That can and must improve — in terms of substance, politics, and on a personal level. This calls for fundamental discussions, which we began today.”
Despite the agreement to talk further, tensions flared almost immediately when Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, leader of the right-wing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), delivered a blunt assessment of the coalition’s viability.
Minutes after Jetten’s remarks, Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius told reporters that “as far as we are concerned, the experiment of a minority cabinet has failed. It cannot continue in this way. Adjustments are necessary—and, in theory, such adjustments are possible.”
The Netherlands has held four general elections in a decade, resulting in a fragmented political system that has steadily eroded public trust in lawmakers. Jetten, the nation’s youngest premier, assumed office pledging to foster consensus across the Dutch parliament, but he has faced persistent infighting among legislative parties and within his own administration.
The fragile unity of the cabinet fractured this week when lawmakers from Jetten’s centrist D66 party and the center-right Christian Democrats (CDA) backed amendments proposed by two center-left opposition groups, PRO and Volt. The resulting tax package narrowly passed the Dutch parliament late Thursday following a daylong debate.
The terms of the legislative compromise enraged the VVD. VVD lawmakers ultimately voted against the tax plan.
Ruben Brekelmans, the VVD’s parliamentary leader, condemned the maneuvers of his coalition partners after the vote.
“I didn’t expect the CDA and D66 to take such a huge turn to the left,” Ruben Brekelmans said. “Bad for our economy, bad for business in the Netherlands, bad for our country.”
