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Rob Jetten is sworn in as youngest Dutch prime minister
Politico Europe · Feb 23, 2026 · Collected from RSS
Summary
The 38-year-old has an ambitious agenda — ranging from raising defense spending to cutting farming emissions — but will have to work via a minority government.
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He succeeds Dick Schoof, whose government collapsed in the summer of 2025, triggering snap elections. Jetten’s party scored a narrow victory over the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) led by Geert Wilders. Jetten now leads a coalition made up of his own Democrats 66 (D66), the center-right Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Together, the three parties control just 66 of the 150 seats in parliament meaning that the new prime minister will depend on opposition support from day one. His government is planning a big splurge on defense, pouring billions more euros into the military to reach the NATO spending target of 5 percent of gross domestic product. Jetten’s government will also press ahead with closely watched plans to slash back emissions from the Netherlands’ massive livestock industry. Even before being his officially start, the incoming coalition ran into problems last week when the nominated state secretary for finance from Jetten’s own D66 party, resigned over misrepresentations of her education on her CV and LinkedIn profile.
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