Government crisis in the Netherlands: Open dissent from the start

This week's events are extraordinary even in The Hague's chronically volatile political climate. Two of three coalition partners – D66 and CDA – are negotiating with the two opposition parties Pro and Volt about support for a tax reform package. The third party VVD in the government coalition absolutely does not want to work with them. Mind you: the coalition members were free to hold individual talks in order to reach a majority.

Apparently the VVD complained about the agreement reached. She was informed very late and was thus presented with a fait accompli. After a whole day of heated debates, she voted against her own tax package on Thursday evening - a unique event. By then the government was on the ropes.

But the constellation that has led to such discord is also unique: It goes back to the status of the minority government, which, with 66 of 150 parliamentary seats, is structurally missing at least ten mandates to govern.

The election winner D66 would have preferred to bring the progressive parties PvdA and GroenLinks, which merged to form Pro in the summer, on board. For the VVD, of course, this was out of the question - they would have liked to set sail with the right-wing JA21, as they say in this country. This in turn was impossible for the D66.

Due to a lack of mathematical and content-related alternatives, three people tried it. It became clear from the start that instead of a majority, this original dissent would be present when looking for support from the opposition, on which we would have to rely from then on.

“Permanent formatie” is how the phase of the coalition talks is called in Dutch” – pro-leader Jesse Klaver called this process several times, knowing full well that his party would play a central role. “Over the right or over the left?”, this question has become a household word in The Hague since the government took office at the end of February.

It is important to note that in both cases the support on the way to a majority was not free. And so the government of Rob Jetten, the surprising and even more brilliant election winner in the fall of 2025, remained in this state of limited maneuverability.

A year ago, Jetten was a symbol of hope that the deep polarization in Dutch society and politics could be overcome after 20 years of harsh populism. His motto “it is possible” even had a touch of Obama’s “yes we can” attached to it. Meanwhile, his programmatic announcement to overcome divisions and bring people together again is helpless in the face of the reality of a highly fragmented spectrum of parties, which is reflected in a parliament with 17 factions.

What makes matters worse is that the balance of power in the Senate is completely different, which is also a result of the volatile, hectic voter migration of the past few years, a symptom of many fast-moving hypes about new parties, some of which soon collapsed again. It was precisely in this constellation that D66 and CDA tried to give the coalition a basis through a deal with Pro, the strongest faction there.

And then there is one last point that plays a role everywhere in Europe: The tough, paralyzing tug-of-war in The Hague that has been going on for months also represents the distribution conflicts that are rapidly escalating in times of growing social problems and constant increased spending on armaments and defense.