Talks to form the next Dutch government resumed on Monday with D66 leader Sigrid Kaag insisting that her party has no intention of teaming up again with the ChristenUnie (CU).

Kaag and Mark Rutte, leader of the right-wing liberal VVD, have spent the four-week holiday period working on a document that is meant to form the basis of the next coalition agreement.

The document has been variously described as a provisional coalition agreement, a foundation for an agreement or a catalyst for a deal.

But while the two liberal parties have found common ground in many policy areas, the make-up of the next cabinet remains a sticking point, with no sign of an imminent breakthrough five months after the general election.

Kaag told AD that her preference for a five-party ‘progressive’ coalition with Labour (PvdA) and GroenLinks remains unchanged. ‘There has to be real change. That can only happen with a different configuration of the cabinet, with different choices and priorities,’ she said.

The ChristenUnie came on board in 2017 after agreeing a non-aggression pact with D66 on issues such as abortion and euthanasia, where the two parties have irreconcilable differences. But D66 are uninterested in extending the deal, while CU leader Gert-Jan Segers has said the price for his party’s co-operation this time will be higher.

A five-way partnership with PvdA and GroenLinks would have a majority in both houses of parliament, while a continuation of the Rutte III cabinet of VVD, D66, Christian Democrats (CDA) and ChristenUnie would only have a slim majority in the lower house.

But the VVD and CDA have strongly resisted including both left-wing parties in the new cabinet. CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra, whose party lost four seats in the election and will be reduced to 14 once Pieter Omtzigt returns from sick leave, said he could not accept a ‘package of left-wing demands’.

‘Our big concerns about the middle classes, about security, the interests of the next generation and trustworthy government are our key points, he said in June. ‘And if they are not sufficiently represented we will go into opposition, as I’ve always said.’