VVD rejects tax plan deal, splitting Dutch coalition

Prime Minister Rob Jetten and deputy prime ministers Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD) and Bart van den Brink (CDA) are meeting the coalition's parliamentary leaders today and tomorrow at the De Zwaluwenberg estate in Hilversum. The rift in the coalition has not healed.

The dispute centres on the tax plan, which parliament adopted with an amendment from PRO and Volt. The plan followed a deal between D66, CDA, PRO and Volt, which the VVD rejects. Yesilgöz says the deal is unacceptable because it would be "not good" for business.

Yesilgöz wants a correction on both substance and politics, which she has called a "fundamental reset". On Friday she called for an extra party to join the coalition, but did not name one. A minority cabinet is no longer an option for the VVD leader. On the substance of a reset, she said: "We didn't get anywhere on that."

Jetten said sending the tax plan debate to the Tweede Kamer was the whole point of a minority cabinet, which meant an end to "suffocating coalition agreements".

The past weeks were "exciting", Jetten said, and do not deserve "the beauty prize". "We could all have done things differently and better," he said.