Dutch coalition parties resume crisis talks as officials urge against Cabinet collapse

The crisis talks involving D66, CDA and VVD will resume on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. at the Zwaluwenberg estate in Hilversum. It is not yet known what the first round of talks on Saturday produced.

In the meantime, a group of senior administrators and constitutional experts is urging the governing parties not to let the minority Cabinet fall.

The experts are calling for the governing parties to avoid new elections. Tensions escalated after D66 and CDA reached a tax deal with opposition parties Pro and Volt that passed the Tweede Kamer on Thursday with a narrow majority. The VVD voted against the plan and later described the minority-Cabinet arrangement as a failure.

Four administrators and legal scholars told the current-affairs program NOS Nieuwsuur that a collapse of the Cabinet would serve no one in the Netherlands. They called on both coalition and opposition parties to seek a solution “in the national interest” and criticized what they described as a “culture of party politics” that produces “years of standstill.”

It would be “completely irresponsible if this Cabinet becomes caretaker,” said Sharon Dijksma, mayor of Utrecht and chair of the Association of Dutch Municipalities. “Also in an international context,” she added.

Thom de Graaf, a former vice-president of the Raad van State and longtime D66 figure, agreed. “We have such a great need for stability,” he said. He proposed appointing an independent process facilitator without a party-political agenda to help the parties find common ground, noting that Prime Minister Rob Jetten cannot fill that role.

If the three parties cannot continue together, De Graaf argued against new elections. “What does that deliver? A long caretaker period, a long formation period, and in the end you end up with a minority Cabinet again,” he said.

De Graaf suggested Jetten instead consult the Tweede Kamer on alternatives, such as a new coalition based on the existing seat distribution. A restart proposal put forward this week by ChristieUnie parliamentary leader Bikker has already drawn majority support.