The Netherlands' three-party minority government was fighting for its survival on Friday, November 13, after its own tax plan passed parliament the night before with opposition votes — and one of its three coalition partners voting against it. Prime Minister Rob Jetten said he would meet coalition partners on Friday to try to hold the government together, conceding on Thursday that the coalition needed a "serious fresh start" less than nine months into its four-year term.

Source: Reuters via DevDiscourse

The crisis was triggered by the government's 2027 tax package, a crucial part of the annual budget. Jetten's centrist D66 party and the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDA) struck a deal on Wednesday with two centre-left opposition parties, PRO and Volt, to get the package through the lower house after the minority coalition — which holds only 66 of the 150 seats — could not pass it alone, the Associated Press reported.

Source: Associated Press via EuropeSays

The wealth-tax amendment at the centre of the row

The opposition-backed deal included a wealth-tax amendment that shifts the tax burden from income to wealth. Under the proposal, returns on assets above 60,000 euros a year would be taxed at 38.5 percent, while the rate on returns below that threshold drops to 35.5 percent, Bloomberg reported. Projections from the parties backing the deal put the shift at about 1 billion euros (yaani roughly 100 crore euros) of tax burden moving from income to wealth.

A review by the finance ministry, led by VVD minister Eelco Heinen, had warned that the amendment could create a funding shortfall of more than 400 million euros (about 442 million US dollars) and the government had advised lawmakers against supporting it, AP reported. The package passed anyway in a tight vote on Thursday night, and it still has to survive a vote in the upper house.

"Ambushed": the VVD votes against its own government

The third coalition partner, the right-wing, pro-business People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), slammed the deal as a breach of the coalition agreement. VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius said her party had been ambushed by its partners striking a deal with an opposition party, and warned before the vote that if the other two partners backed the amendment, the VVD would have to see whether the collaboration could continue, Bloomberg reported. VVD lawmakers then voted against their own government's tax plan.

After the vote, VVD parliamentary leader Ruben Brekelmans called the way the coalition partners had acted "disconcerting" and declined to immediately confirm whether the VVD would stay in the government, Reuters reported. Christian Democrat leader Henri Bontenbal told national broadcaster NOS before the debate that he wanted the coalition to survive and serve its full four-year term, AP reported.

Jetten skips Dublin to fight for his government

Jetten, who became the Netherlands' youngest prime minister when he took office in February, skipped the European Political Community gathering in Dublin on Thursday and an informal EU leaders' meeting on Friday to deal with the crisis at home. After Thursday's vote he said he would call his two vice premiers, one each from the CDA and the VVD, for a meeting on Friday morning as he seeks to hold the coalition together, AP reported.

What happens next depends on the VVD's decision. A break with the VVD would likely be the end of Jetten's minority government, Reuters reported, and a collapse could trigger fresh elections next year in the politically splintered Netherlands. The tax package itself still faces the upper-house vote, so even if the coalition survives Friday's talks, the fight over the wealth tax is not finished.