by Oui
Thu Jan 29th, 2026 at 01:21:30 AM EST
Excellent article in The Guardian ...
Dutch parties strike minority coalition deal three months after D66 election upset | The Guardian |
Christian Democrats and VVD join centrist D66 party three months after surprise win left fragmented parliament
Rob Jetten, the leader of D66, is in line to become the Netherlands' youngest ever prime minister. (Photograph: ANP/Shutterstock)
The leaders of three Dutch political parties have agreed a new coalition deal, paving the way for a rare minority government in the Netherlands almost three months after elections that produced an upset victory for the centrist D66 party.
The liberal-progressive, pro-European party, led by the probable new prime minister, Rob Jetten, will join up with the conservative Christian Democrats and the right-wing VVD in a government that holds only 66 seats in the 150-seat lower house.
The new coalition shuts out the far-right Freedom party (PVV), led by the anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders, which D66 narrowly defeated in the tight October election. Both parties won 26 seats, although seven PVV MPs have since broken away.
"We're incredibly eager to get started," said Jetten, 38, who will become the Netherlands' youngest ever prime minister, announcing the accord on Tuesday night. "We're going to do it as a three-party coalition, but we'd also like to work with other parties."
He added: "We now want to get started on all the major issues facing us - international security, domestic security, providing affordable homes, getting migration under control and investing in the new economy."
[...]
GroenLinks-PvdA [GreenLeft-Labour] leader, Jesse Klaver, said this month his party was open to negotiating agreements with the new coalition on a case-by-case basis, saying it wanted to provide what he called "responsible opposition".
Klaver said global instability and the need to "help move the Netherlands forward" meant the government could not afford to fail and his party would support it on big issues such as environmental reforms and accelerating housebuilding.
A moment in Dutch parliament chaired by Bosma (PVV) ... censures a voice of Parliamentary democracy ...
Translation:
Members of Parliament are banning the use of the term "far-right." Speaker Bosma really overstepped the mark here. We must call a spade a spade, especially in Parliament. This is unacceptable. This far-right cabinet is a historic mistake.
