Cabinet agrees 11th-hour budget deal without opposition support

The coalition parties D66, CDA and VVD have agreed a draft budget package after a marathon weekend of “tough” and “intensive” talks.

Finance minister Eelco Heinen said the negotiations had produced a “budget for 10 parties”, but the minority government was unable to secure the approval of opposition parties before the plans are presented to parliament on September 15.

Instead the three coalition partners had to resolve their own differences on issues such as welfare cuts, changes to the system for taxing wealth and assets and the higher excess charge on health insurance.

Heinen and prime minister Rob Jetten did not disclose what concessions had been made during the negotiations, but party leaders said they had produced a balanced package designed to appeal to both left and right.

Jetten acknowledged the negotiations had been “tough” at times. “Occasionally there was a bit of friction, but that gave us a more polished budget,” he said.

Dilan Yesilgöz, leader of the VVD, said in a post on X that the cabinet had produced a budget “that can take the Netherlands forward”, while emphasising her party’s campaign points.

“The VVD wil always stand for lower taxes, room for economic growth and a government that spends less,” she said. Earlier Yesilgöz described the negotiations as “long and intensive”.

We zijn eruit. Na lange en intensieve onderhandelingen ligt er een begroting waarmee Nederland vooruit kan. De VVD staat daarbij altijd voor lagere lasten, ruimte voor economische groei en een overheid die minder uitgeeft.

In een kabinet betekent verantwoordelijkheid nemen ook:…

— Dilan Yesilgöz – Zegerius (@DilanYesilgoz) August 31, 2026

Henri Bontenbal, leader of the CDA, said: “My aim was to come up with a good offer to the opposition. I think we’ve managed that.”

Minority government

Jetten and Heinen spent two weeks talking to opposition party leaders behind closed doors to try to secure their support for the budget before the draft package was sent to the Council of State.

But those negotiations broke down at the end of last week without producing a formal deal, meaning the cabinet will have to find the votes as the bills pass through parliament in the autumn.

The government is 10 seats short of a majority in the Lower House and 16 short in the smaller Senate, where it needs the support of at least two opposition parties.

The original deadline of last Friday was extended over the weekend and into an extra cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon as the divisions within the coalition became harder to reconcile.

The centre parties, D66 and CDA, wanted to scrap some of the proposed €6.5 billion budget cuts planned for the next four years to appeal to Progressief Nederland (PRO), the largest opposition party, which was previously the left-wing alliance of Labour (PvdA) and GroenLinks.

“Problems delayed”

But the VVD favoured a different package of measures designed to bring on board right-wing parties such as JA21 and the SGP, who wanted to see tax cuts instead.

The parties also had different visions of how to reform the “box 3” income tax module, which covers assets and savings, with the VVD arguing for a more generous deal for investors.

The VVD justice minister, David van Weel, said “nobody is proud of this process, nobody is happy with it” ahead of Monday’s meeting, where the draft budget was agreed.

Pro leader Jesse Klaver said he feared that the coalition parties had “not made choices” and “the problems have been delayed” until after the budget is presented on September 15.