A new Dutch administration was formally installed on Monday, with 38-year-old centrist leader Rob Jetten taking office as the Netherlands’ youngest-ever prime minister and the country’s first openly gay head of government.
Jetten secured a surprise victory in October’s snap election, narrowly defeating the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) led by Geert Wilders. The poll was triggered after the PVV pulled out of the previous coalition — the most right-leaning government in the country’s recent history — which collapsed after just 11 months.
Jetten’s D66 party has formed a coalition with the centre-right CDA and the liberal VVD. Together, the three parties control 66 seats, leaving them nine short of an outright majority in parliament. Coalition talks concluded in 117 days, considerably faster than the 223 days it took to assemble the last government.
Following his election win, Jetten said it was possible to defeat populist forces “if you campaign with a positive message for your country”. He also pledged during the campaign to “bring the Netherlands back to the heart of Europe because without European cooperation, we are nowhere”.
In a joint manifesto released in January, the coalition partners reaffirmed their backing for Ukraine and committed to meeting the Netherlands’ NATO defence spending obligations.
Despite being more centrist than its predecessor, analysts say the new government still carries a conservative tone. Sarah de Lange, a politics professor at Leiden University, told AFP that the coalition bears a “right-wing signature”.
“The coalition has opted for budget cuts rather than running a deficit to finance any investments it wants to make” and there is “substantial continuity between the immigration plans of the new government and the previous one”, De Lange said.
The coalition has vowed to tighten migration policies, including stricter family reunification rules, and plans to scale back certain social benefits such as unemployment payments to help fund increased defence spending.
However, lacking a parliamentary majority, the government will need backing from opposition parties to pass legislation — a factor that could slow major reforms. As De Lange noted, “getting larger reforms passed by parliament might take longer than usual”.
Jetten and his ministers were officially sworn in by King Willem-Alexander at Huis Ten Bosch Palace in The Hague.
Although Jetten initially favoured a broader alliance that included the left-leaning GroenLinks/PvdA, that proposal was firmly rejected by VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz.
Wilders, who had shaken Europe’s political landscape with a shock election triumph in November 2023, suffered a setback in the latest vote. His PVV saw its seat count drop from 37 to 26 following what many observers described as a lacklustre campaign. Though the party finished second, all coalition partners had ruled out governing with Wilders, effectively sidelining him.
Meanwhile, other hard-right groups gained ground. The Forum for Democracy, led by 28-year-old Lidewij de Vos, secured four additional seats on a platform opposing “uncontrolled immigration” and “the hopeless EU”. JA21 also improved its standing, adding eight seats and nearly entering the coalition before being excluded by Jetten.
