No sign of deal on budget ahead of crucial week in parliament

Budget talks between the coalition and opposition parties at the weekend have failed to produce an agreement, meaning the plans will go before parliament this week without majority support.

The coalition parties D66, CDA and VVD had hoped to strike a deal with the opposition before the plans are debated this week, but were unable to find a breakthrough despite speaking to three different combinations.

Prime minister Rob Jetten said at his weekly press conference last Friday that he still wanted to come up with an agreement that balanced the demands of left- and right-wing parties, while the opposition groups have repeatedly urged him to pick a side.

Jetten appeared to be close to securing the support of the left-wing parties Pro and Volt in September after agreeing to abandon €6 billion of welfare spending cuts. But the cabinet is unprepared to meet the two parties’ other demands to raise wealth taxes to make up the shortfall.

Pro leader Jesse Klaver said after meeting Jetten and other coalition leaders in the Catshuis, the prime minister’s official residence, that “there is no political will to work with us”.

“That’s because the cabinet has chosen to give more money to those with the largest fortunes,” Klaver added.

Abortion and surrogacy

Pro and Volt are the only combination that can offer the three coalition parties the votes they need for a majority in both houses of parliament. Jetten also held a video conference with the leaders of three right-wing parties – the farmers’ party BBB, JA21 and the orthodox Protestant SGP.

The parties have drawn up a laundry list of issues where they want the cabinet to make concessions or block legislation, including reforms to facilitate late-term abortions and surrogacy, which the Bible-belt SGP opposes.

The farmers want agriculture minister Jaimi van Essen to scrap his plans to reduce nitrogen pollution by putting up low-emission zones around protected nature areas and offering buyouts to livestock farmers, but none of the coalition parties are prepared to go back to the drawing board.

The three parties said in a statement that they saw “opportunities to talk further”, but there were no signs of a significant shift in their direction. Jetten said on Friday that it was “not sensible” to make the budget vote dependent on non-financial issues.

A third potential route to a majority in the lower house, via the minor parties ChristenUnie and 50Plus, along with the far-right splinter group of former PVV MPs led by Gidi Markuszower, also seemed doomed after ChristenUnie leader Mirjam Bikker came away from talks saying the process was “not going well”.

“We’re doing things we should have sorted out in August,” Bikker said. “And that’s frustrating”.

Jetten warned at his press conference that opposition parties were jeopardising vital measures to ease the cost of living, such as an extension to the discount on fuel duty, if they voted down next year’s budget.

MPs are due to debate the budget measures on Wednesday, with the votes due to take place on November 12.