Negotiators evaluate potential partners as coalition talks enter next phase

The parties negotiating a new coalition will use the next few days to decide which other parties to involve in forming the government and in what capacity. Informateur Rianne Letschert has tasked them with this “homework” and aims to make a “final choice” shortly after the Christmas break.

D66, VVD, and CDA together hold 66 seats in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, which is ten short of a majority. In the Senate, they rely even more on other parties to approve legislation and budgets. While cooperation is essential, the negotiating parties disagree strongly on which partners to involve.

The only path to a four-party coalition with a majority in the Tweede Kamer would be to include GroenLinks-PvdA, but the VVD rejects this option. Adding the right-wing conservative JA21 would give the negotiators 75 seats, still short of a majority, and D66 is also unwilling to partner with them.

Letschert has been serving as informateur for ten days. An informateur is a neutral mediator tasked with guiding parties through the process of forming a new government. “I can say that we have addressed all topics in substance,” she said following the last meeting before the Christmas break. For the first time, the talks also covered finances in detail, a delicate issue in every Cabinet formation.

Letschert is “pleased” with both the progress achieved and the atmosphere at the negotiation table. Talks will resume on January 5, initially in The Hague and later at the De Zwaluwenberg estate near Hilversum. The Tweede Kamer has given Letschert until January 30 to conclude this stage of the Cabinet formation.

D66 leader Rob Jetten says the parties have made “significant progress” in just ten days and will celebrate Christmas with reassurance. CDA chair Henri Bontenbal expects there will still be “plenty of phone calls and careful consideration” in the coming weeks, but believes the coalition talks are “on course” for completion by the end of January. VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz remains “hopeful” while acknowledging that “a big challenge” still lies ahead.