# Eight hours of crisis talks fail to end Dutch coalition row

> Prime Minister Jetten and his deputies Yesilgöz (VVD) and Van den Brink (CDA) will keep talking this weekend, and Yesilgöz says the outcome could be a trip to the King, which is how cabinets resign.

Politics · published 2026-11-13 21:35 · https://nlnow.nl/a/eight-hours-of-crisis-talks-fail-to-end-dutch-coalition-row/

Prime Minister Jetten (D66) and deputy prime ministers Yesilgöz (VVD) and Van den Brink (CDA) spent about eight hours in crisis talks at the Ministry of General Affairs in The Hague without resolving the coalition crisis. They will continue at the De Zwaluwenberg estate this weekend.

> “There have been good things happening in recent times, but there are also things that are not going well. And that has had an effect on the mutual relationships. That can be better and must be better - substantively, politically and personally. This calls for fundamental conversations, which we started today, and this conversation is not finished yet. The Netherlands deserves to keep moving forward.”
> — Rob Jetten, Prime Minister, on X (https://x.com/MinPres/status/2121335679032377598) (translated from Dutch)

The day before, a majority in parliament passed the tax plan with the left-wing parties, without the VVD. Yesilgöz said the minority-cabinet experiment has failed and the coalition cannot go on like this. She said D66 and CDA look too often to the left.

> Jetten is fighting for his cabinet. Yesilgoz is fighting for the VVD. This cabinet is over.
> — Jimmy Dijk, SP parliamentary leader, on X (https://x.com/jimmydijk/status/2121331084432752798) (translated from Dutch)

Yesilgöz said an improvement is "possible in theory", but it would need a substantive correction and a political correction. She added that the three could also decide "to go to the King".

> Closing words from journalists to MP #Jetten, who shows a total lack of self-reflection: "Good luck! Thanks!" What the hell. #persconferentie #kabinetscrisis
> — Caroline van der Plas, BBB MP, on X (https://x.com/lientje1967/status/2121314535693066510) (translated from Dutch)

Jetten struck a conciliatory tone. Things had gone wrong and would be done better, he said, and the three parties must keep talking calmly. "Our work is nowhere near finished," he said.

Van den Brink stressed that the cabinet carries a heavy responsibility in the national interest. "That is why we will continue the intensive talks," he said. He would not respond to the other two: "I won't go into individual statements."

## Background

- **VVD (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie)**: The liberal party on the centre-right, which favours free enterprise and lower taxes. It supplied the prime minister from 2010 to 2024 and is one of the three parties in the current cabinet, with D66 and the CDA.
- **CDA (Christen-Democratisch Appèl)**: The Christian Democratic party, on the centre-right. It has taken part in many Dutch coalition governments and is one of the three parties in the current cabinet, with D66 and the VVD.

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