Cabinet continues budget talks without BBB at the table
Prime Minister Jetten first invites six opposition parties, as the coalition remains divided over the route to securing support.
The Jetten cabinet is opening new budget talks with JA21, SGP, ChristenUnie, 50PLUS, Volt and PRO. BBB has not been invited for now after supporting a motion of no confidence in the cabinet.
After the cabinet meeting on 18 September, Prime Minister Rob Jetten said the first invitations had gone to six opposition groups. He stressed that the door was not definitively closed to BBB, but that the cabinet first wanted to speak to parties that had expressed a willingness to hold further talks during the General Political Debate.
The immediate reason for excluding BBB was the party’s support for a motion of no confidence. Jetten said there was no such thing as partial confidence or partial no confidence. BBB leader Henk Vermeer had contacted the prime minister to explain his group’s decision.
There is meanwhile a difference in tone within the coalition. Jetten stood by the sequence involving six parties, while the VVD said it should remain possible to continue talks with BBB. The prime minister said talks with BBB in the coming weeks had not been ruled out.
The cabinet is seeking support for the Budget Memorandum, the individual budgets and the tax plan. Jetten named three issues on which he believed a broader agreement might be possible: work should pay more; the treatment of box 3 and the investment climate should become clearer; and the cabinet, employers and employees should be given room for a social agreement.
A minority cabinet needs support from outside the coalition for individual budgets. The talks are therefore important not only in terms of substance, but also procedurally. Opposition parties want influence over the plans before pledging their support; the cabinet wants to prevent every budget item from becoming a separate negotiation.
The decision to keep BBB out of the first round for now makes a right-wing route to securing support more complicated, but does not formally rule it out. At the same time, the cabinet still faces the question of how to build a majority when parties set different conditions on issues including nitrogen, taxation and social security.
One story, several perspectives
What is established
- The cabinet is in a minority position and is seeking support for budgets and tax plans.
- BBB has not been invited to the first round of talks.
- The decision follows BBB’s support for a motion of no confidence.
- The coalition parties differ in tone over further talks with BBB.
Left
Arguments A minority cabinet must take the whole Lower House seriously and should not exclude one opposition party because of a political motion. Support for the budgets should be sought through substantive concessions and broad social agreements.
Values Parliamentary openness, social protection and broad democratic legitimacy.
Consequences A broad negotiation may produce more stable policy, but could also lead to higher spending or less decisive choices.
Centre
Arguments The cabinet may begin with parties that want to engage constructively, but must keep open the possibility of speaking to BBB later as well. Budget negotiations require both political reliability and practical majorities.
Values Institutional stability, administrative continuity and compromise.
Consequences A phased approach can provide clarity, but increases the risk that parties will feel excluded.
Right
Arguments A party that withdraws its confidence from the cabinet cannot at the same time automatically claim a preferred position in budget negotiations. The government must first make clear which course it intends to pursue, for example on nitrogen and taxation.
Values Political responsibility, consistency and the voters’ mandate.
Consequences A hard line may strengthen the cabinet’s negotiating position, but makes a parliamentary majority more difficult.
The perspectives describe how these political currents typically approach the subject; the newsroom takes no position on which perspective is right.
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The political facts are based on the official press conference and NOS reporting. Interpretations about the difficulty of a right-wing route are presented as analysis, not as an established outcome.
- confirmed The cabinet invited JA21, SGP, ChristenUnie, 50PLUS, Volt and PRO. — Prime Minister Jetten named these six parties during the press conference. source
- confirmed BBB supported a motion of no confidence in the cabinet. — The press conference cites this as the reason for the initial selection. source
- confirmed Jetten named work, box 3 and a social agreement as subjects for discussion. — These three subjects appear in the official text of the press conference. source
- confirmed The door to later talks with BBB has not been definitively closed. — Jetten said further talks in the coming weeks had not been ruled out. source
Editor's note
The invitation list, the reason for it and the subjects for discussion named by Jetten have been directly confirmed. Final support for the budgets and tax plan remains unresolved.Sources
More on this in Dutch media
- NRC — „kabinet-jetten begroting”
- NU.nl — „kabinet-jetten begroting”
- De Telegraaf — „kabinet-jetten begroting”