Government crisis: Coalition in the Netherlands is heading for a new start

“The coalition no longer exists in its current form,” politicians from the VVD party told Dutch reporters. According to reports, this calls for new coalition negotiations. What this means in terms of content is still unclear. The crisis talks are ongoing.

Prime Minister Jetten is committed to a new beginning and is negotiating this with the party leaders of his coalition partners. Representatives of his D66 party and the Christian Democrats want to prevent a break.

After a heated dispute over tax reform and the introduction of a “millionaires’ tax,” the right-wing liberal VVD threatened to leave the coalition. A break seemed inevitable after parliament passed the reform late on Thursday evening with the votes of the other two coalition partners. The government has only been in office for almost nine months and does not have a majority in either chamber of parliament.

The D66 and CDA had previously agreed with the red-green opposition party Pro on the introduction of the special tax that very wealthy residents should pay. For the VVD this was a violation of the coalition agreement.

Since the government came into power, the three-way alliance of the left-liberal D66, the right-liberal VVD and the Christian-democratic CDA has been dominated by a dispute over direction. The VVD wants to achieve majorities with radical right-wing parties and strictly rejects cooperation with the red-green opposition party Pro. On the other hand, the other two partners are looking for compromises with Pro.

It would hardly be possible to form a new government with a majority following a break in the coalition. Parliament is fragmented and now has 17 political groups. Radical and extreme right-wing parties hold almost a third of the seats. Most parties reject new elections because they fear another long period of deadlock. In just under five years, three governments had fallen prematurely.