Rob Jetten

Early career

Jetten began his political career as a policy advisor for the Democrats 66 (D66) parliamentary group in the Senate of the States General and as the chairman of the Young Democrats. In addition, between 2010 and 2017, he was a member of the municipal council of Nijmegen. In the 2017 general election, he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives. Jetten then became his party's spokesperson for climate, energy and gas, railways, democratic renewal and economic affairs.^[4]

On 9 October 2018, Jetten was chosen as the new parliamentary leader of D66 in the House of Representatives, succeeding Alexander Pechtold.^[5] This did not automatically make him the new party leader as the new leader eventually was to be chosen in the 2020 Democrats 66 leadership election. Aged 31, Jetten became the youngest ever parliamentary leader of D66. After his election, Jetten faced criticism in Dutch media because of his relatively young age.^[6] He was nicknamed Robot Jetten due to his rehearsed answers.^[7]

In June 2020, Jetten announced that he would not submit a candidacy for the position of party leader, naming Sigrid Kaag as a better candidate.^[8] He was instead put in second place on D66's candidate list.^[9] When the fourth Rutte cabinet was sworn in on 10 January 2022, Jetten became Minister for Climate and Energy Policy. Under his leadership, the Dutch government announced plans in 2022 to invest 750 million euros ($789 million) through to 2031 to have the country's gas network operator Gasunie develop a national hydrogen transportation network.^[10]

In April 2025, Dutch media reported that Jetten participated in a parliamentary delegation trip to Argentina and extended his stay for private reasons. Critics argued that this could create the appearance of mixing professional and personal travel. *De Telegraaf* covered the issue through a video report, raising questions about the combination of the official visit with time spent visiting his partner’s family.^[11]

Party leader

On 14 July 2023, Jetten announced his candidacy to become the next leader of the D66.^[12] He succeeded Sigrid Kaag after she announced that she would not lead D66 into the 2023 general election, due to the impact of the "hate, intimidation and threats" she received against her family.^[13] Jetten returned to the House of Representatives as parliamentary leader after the election, in which D66 obtained 9 seats, a loss of 24.^[14] Following Kaag's resignation effective 8 January 2024 to fill a role at the United Nations, Jetten took over her position as Deputy Prime Minister, and he served as acting Minister of Finance for four days.^[15][16][17] However, his tasks for the latter were in practice delegated to State Secretary for Finance Marnix van Rij.^[18]

Jetten's term as minister ended on 2 July 2024, when the Schoof cabinet was sworn in.^[19] When that cabinet presented its 2025 budget which included €2 billion in education cuts, Jetten formed the self-named "unholy alliance" with centrist and conservative opposition parties. Coalition parties needed additional support in the Senate, but D66 pulled out of negotiations in early December 2024, a week before an agreement was reached to reverse €750 million of the cuts.^[20][21] During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he advocated for Dutch defense spending to rise from 2% to 3% of gross domestic product, believing that Europe could no longer rely on the United States for its security following the second inauguration of US president Donald Trump in 2025.^[22]

In the 2025 general election, Jetten's Democrats 66 (D66) party and the right-wing populist party PVV ended up jointly being the largest parties, each winning 26 seats in the House. D66 experienced their best-ever result in general elections.^[23] Jetten was credited for his optimism during the campaign.^[24][25] In the following cabinet formation, D66 agreed to form a minority cabinet with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).^[26]

First days

Jetten was appointed as formateur on 3 February 2026. Debate in the legislature before his appointment as formateur focused on the proposed plans of his proposed parliamentary coalition to increase the age for the Algemene Ouderdomswet.^[27] The minority Jetten cabinet was inaugurated on 23 February 2026, which made Jetten the youngest person, the first openly gay man and the first openly LGBT person, and the first politician from the Democrats 66 party to serve as Prime Minister of the Netherlands.^[28][29]

Coalition

The coalition agreement, entitled "Getting to Work!", promises "a better climate for investment" and tax measures favourable to businesses.^[30] Citizens, for their part, will be required to pay a "freedom contribution", a new tax intended to finance the increase in military spending. The government of Jetten also announced cuts to social spending, particularly in the healthcare budget, the reduction of the duration of unemployment benefits from 24 to 12 months, and lower benefits paid to people who are unable to work. The conditions for qualifying for a full pension will be tightened, and the retirement age could be raised to 70^{[citation needed]}. The prime minister also promised the construction of new cities to address the housing crisis, as well as the building of nuclear power plants.^[31][32][30]

Following U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran in 2026, Jetten maintained a critical stance toward Tehran, calling for an end to Iranian military activities and expressing 'deep concern' over the regime's internal repression and its role in regional escalation.^[33]