Next round formation started at De Zwaluuwenberg estate

Party chairmen Rob Jetten (D66), Henri Bontenbal (CDA) and Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD), their seconds, and informant Rianne Letschert started the next round of the formation on Sunday evening at the De Zwaluwenberg estate in Hilversum. The seven did not talk to the press before entering, reports the ANP news agency. They will remain on the estate until late afternoon on Monday.

In recent weeks, CDA leader Bontenbal and D66 leader Jetten have made the start of a coalition agreement, containing their ideas on migration, housing, nitrogen, defense and the economy, among other things. The VVD is also participating in the current round, a step that informant Sybrand Buma also recommended in his final report. Under the leadership of informant Letschert, chairman of the board of Maastricht University in daily life, the parties want to reach a “complete agreement” before the end of January.

Really ambitious

Jetten called it a “really ambitious” plan on Friday. This is especially true because it is not yet clear how the three parties want to achieve a majority in the Senate or House of Representatives. In parliament, D66, CDA and VVD together have 66 of the 150 seats, in the senate 21 of the 75.

It is not known what is on the agenda for the discussions on Sunday evening. It is clear what is sensitive: which items need to be cut in order to free up billions for Defense is a tricky issue. And now that the VVD has joined, mortgage interest deduction will also be discussed. D66 and CDA want to abolish it, while the VVD made it a point in the campaign that it wanted to keep the arrangement.

De Zwaluuwenberg estate is owned by Defense and is often used for formations. For example, during the formation of the Rutte-III (2017), Rutte-IV (2021) and Schoof (2024) cabinets, there were always rounds of discussions in the nineteenth-century villa.

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