Next round of coalition talks starts: VVD "stands ready", GL-PvdA open to negotiate

With the D66 and CDA presenting their formation document with plans for a new government, the next phase of the Cabinet formation process can start. Informateur Sybrand Buma will meet with the leaders of all other parliamentary parties to figure out who will join the coalition negotiations. The VVD “stands ready” to talk, GroenLinks-PvdA sees “sufficient starting points” for negotiations, and JA21 will “carefully study the document,” the three most frequently mentioned potential coalition partners told NOS.

Buma will first meet today with the leaders of nine smaller parties, starting with Volt leader Laurens Dassen and ending with BBB leader Caroline van der Plas. He wants to suss out who would be willing to join a coalition, or “prepared to provide constructive support” from outside the coalition. Later, he will talk with the larger parties.

The VVD’s position is the most interesting as the liberal party is indispensable to many majority coalition options. The D66 and CDA’s 17-page document includes several issues that Dilan Yeşilgöz’s party can support, including tackling nitrogen emissions, investing in industry, addressing grid congestion, reducing regulatory burdens for businesses and housing, and tightening the immigration policy.

A potential sticking point is the plan to phase out the mortgage interest deduction. That is essentially a non-negotiable for the VVD, with Yeşilgöz promising during the campaign not to touch the tax credit for homeowners. The CDA and D66 also want to introduce road pricing, higher taxes on assets, and budget more liberally than is currently the case - issues the VVD typically opposes.

Yeşilgöz said she is eager to continue talks with the D66 and CDA, pointing out that party leaders Rob Jetten and Henri Bontenbal stressed that every topic in their document is open to discussion. “In the next round, matters will have to be added and expanded upon,” she said. She wants to work on “concrete solutions” for the business climate, asylum, and purchasing power.

GroenLinks-PvdA leader Jesse Klaver called the document “not yet socially and environmentally sound enough,” but he sees potential. The D66-CDA document’s chapters on housing and nitrogen contain similarities to GL-PvdA’s election program, but the harsh migration policy and cuts to social security and healthcare will be difficult issues for the left-wing party.

Klaver stressed that GroenLinks-PvdA wants to negotiate “on a majority government” and does not consider supporting a minority government an option at this stage.

JA21 leader Joost Eerdmans told NOS that he wanted to first study the D66 and CDA’s document, and reiterated several of his party’s positions, including “strongly curbing the influx” of asylum seekers and “targeted investment in our economy.”

A minority Cabinet with the D66, VVD, and CDA currently seems like the most likely outcome. The VVD explicitly stated that it would not govern with GroenLinks-PvdA. The D66 would prefer not to form a coalition with the right-wing JA21. The minority option could potentially seek support in parliament from GroenLinks-PvdA and JA21 on a per-issue basis.

In the coming days, Buma will try to make some progress on the coalition puzzle. He said he hopes the party leaders will find “a basis” for engaging in dialogue and collaboration in the D66 and CDA document. “I assume the parties feel that responsibility.”