The Dutch media are virtually united in their response to Tuesday’s 2026 spending plans, describing them as “breadcrumbs” and “sterile accounts.”

The NRC said in an editorial that the “twice caretaker” cabinet had no choice but to press ahead with the budget presentation, “complete with rituals, folklore, and metaphors about household spending plans that add up neatly.”

The cabinet may have proposed €486 billion in spending for next year, but this hides an empty space, the paper said.

“This budget is the most lacking in policy in years,” the editorial continued. “In part, this is understandable and even appropriate, given the cabinet has fallen twice and now holds only 32 seats in parliament. But there is a difference between doing nothing at all and showing modesty.”

At the same time, the paper said, the apathy of the caretaker cabinet presents opportunities for the lower house of parliament. During Wednesday and Thursday’s debate, parliamentary parties can seize the initiative, the paper said.

This will require a mature discussion, allowing room for differing opinions, while keeping one eye on the issues that cannot wait until there is finally a new cabinet.

Frank Hendrix, writing in the Volkskrant, says prime minister Dick Schoof will effectively be “a guest at his own funeral” during the two-day debate on the budget plans.

And Trouw describes the government’s budget as “sterile accounts full of pluses and minuses” on the way to “yet another election.” The paper notes that cabinets have acted in a caretaker role for three of the past five budgets and that the Netherlands is once again on pause.

“Press releases from ministries are full of pledges and plans that everyone already knew about, wrapped in language suggesting the cabinet has rolled up its sleeves and is hard at work,” the paper said.

“It says a lot that the coalition parties are congratulating themselves on extending the fuel tax cuts yet again… but what we’re really doing is waiting for elections and a new cabinet. The big themes – nitrogen, housing, and migration – need real solutions and hard choices. And the magnum opus of ‘the most right-wing cabinet ever’ remains painfully unfulfilled.”

Wouter de Winther, writing in the Telegraaf, points out that the cabinet didn’t have to do much to achieve the one piece of good news to emerge from the budget – a rise in spending power next year.

“The past few months in The Hague have been very uneasy, with the sad result that confidence in the political system has fallen to an all-time low,” he wrote in an analysis of Tuesday’s events.

The king’s speech did acknowledge the problems facing the Netherlands, but the answers will have to come from the new cabinet, he said. “And whatever its political makeup, the honeymoon period for the new team will be short-lived… 2026 threatens to be another wasted period, thanks to the disruption that has typified politics in recent years.”