CDA and D66 keep tax deal as VVD demands "reset"

A majority in the Tweede Kamer adopted the 2027 tax package (Pakket Belastingplan 2027) on Thursday evening, but without the VVD, a partner in the governing coalition. Prime Minister Rob Jetten (D66) said in the Kamer after the votes that he will hold crisis talks on Friday morning with his deputy prime ministers, Dilan Yeşilgöz (VVD) and Bart van den Brink (CDA), on how to continue.

The package passed with an amendment from Pro and Volt that raises €1bn from wealthy people. It won a narrow majority. D66 and CDA, which run the minority cabinet with the VVD, had presented the deal with Pro and Volt earlier in the week without the VVD.

VVD parliamentary leader Ruben Brekelmans had said in the debate: "The VVD will vote against the tax plan if the Pro and Volt amendment is adopted." He said he was completely taken by surprise, and that if the plan is expanded with the millionaire tax or voted down, more than a restart is needed.

Yeşilgöz has said the proposal goes against the coalition agreement. She threatened a cabinet break and called for a fundamental reset of the coalition. D66's Jan Paternotte and CDA's Henri Bontenbal denied that it breaks the agreement, said they had informed the VVD as well as they could, and called the millionaire tax a frame put out by Pro and Volt. Bontenbal wants the VVD to stay in the cabinet.

Jetten said he will do "everything" to keep the coalition together and wants a serious restart with D66, CDA and the VVD. "Nobody in the Netherlands is waiting for endless Hague squabbles or new elections," he said.

Pro leader Jesse Klaver said the VVD "puts a knife to the throat of this coalition and this cabinet". PVV leader Geert Wilders called the minority cabinet de facto dead, with only the funeral still to come.

The Kamer also adopted a motion by ChristenUnie leader Mirjam Bikker saying that the fall of a cabinet should not automatically lead to new elections.