The joint piece ‘Working together for a stronger Netherlands’ breathes optimism, D66 and CDA call it a “positive and ambitious agenda”. Apart from the five substantive themes that have been developed, the vision document also exudes something else: the desire to work together again after years of chaos in politics in The Hague and to do politics in a different way,” the formation document states.
What is substantively striking about the course with which D66 and CDA want to entice other parties to negotiate?
Drone photo of a new construction project on the outskirts of Gouda.
Photo ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/ANP
Living
According to Jetten and Bontenbal, measures must be taken to combat the housing crisis. The aim is and remains to build at least 100,000 homes annually, which should be affordable for many people. Municipalities and builders can count on strict management from The Hague.
The most striking is the plea for the phasing out of mortgage interest deduction, but the parties have considered mitigating the financial consequences. The financial decline is compensated by. In addition, there is talk of a ‘to limit the consequences’, but a term is not mentioned. A long-term reduction may reduce the resistance of VVD and JA21, who indicated in the campaign that they are against tackling the deduction.
It is not surprising that the approaching end of the deduction is explicitly mentioned. For D66 and CDA, just like for Groen-Links-PvdA, it was in the election manifesto and the theme played a prominent role in debates. This is what the government transfers annually to the homeowner.
To accelerate the construction pace in the short term, the knife is being cut. This should make it less easy for local residents to delay construction projects through objection procedures. In addition, it becomes easier to use existing homes more effectively (“permit-free where possible”). This can be done by adding up (an extra floor), splitting it or by placing a family home in the garden.
“At least 21 large-scale construction sites” must be identified to guarantee this. It is not clear which regions this concerns, nor how this corresponds with previous plans: In any case, money should not be the problem. “For construction sites of national importance, there will be a plan for the period 2030–2040.”
Many proposals to alleviate the housing shortage are not new and will generate little resistance from potential coalition partners. Both VVD and GroenLinks-PvdA already proposed in their election manifestos to cut back on objection procedures, thereby increasing the importance of home seekers.
Agricultural land and nature in Overijssel.
Photo JEROEN JUMELET/ANP
Agriculture, nature and nitrogen
Self-criticism when it comes to the nitrogen policy of recent years. The fact that the Netherlands has been dealing with a nitrogen crisis for some time now.
To put an end to the crisis, the , this “requires a further turnaround”. Jetten and Bontenbal are sticking to the statutory targets in 2035. D66 has always advocated achieving the statutory nitrogen targets by 2030, but it is not clear whether the party now has to surrender many of its ambitions. 2030 is explicitly mentioned as an interim goal, without making it clear how important that benchmark will be.
According to the memorandum, it should also become possible to expropriate farmers who have not yet achieved the nitrogen targets around 2035. That is not revolutionary, the expropriation option for 2035 also applies as an option in the plans of the agricultural organization LTO, for example.
At the same time, all policy options surrounding Natura 2000 areas are kept open. Additional policy must be introduced for these nature reserves “to achieve the goals of the nature reserve in question. The timing, the necessary distance from companies to the nature reserves and the required emission reduction have not yet been worked out.
It is clear that the government must take part in nitrogen policy and that it should not be the provinces that are now making their own policy due to the administrative impasse. “Provincial plans must meet national requirements before funds are disbursed,” the guidance states. The return of one must provide the financial resources. This nitrogen fund, which was closed under pressure from the ruling party BBB, contained 24 billion euros.
An irrigation system that was deployed due to persistent drought.
Photo JEFFREY GROENEWEG/ANP
Economy, energy and climate
CDA and D66 want to invest in knowledge, companies and climate. The Schoof cabinet made major cuts to education and had little climate ambition. The paragraph ‘economy, energy and climate’ reads like a return to plans of the penultimate cabinet, Rutte IV (VVD, CDA, D66 and CU). Investments in innovation must increase, according to CDA and D66. For example, tax benefits for green savings should encourage citizens to invest in private companies.
The text echoes the same kind of ambition to be global – now of innovative technologies, it – that was also often heard during their previous cabinet period. Jetten and Bontenbal write that “our earning capacity is under pressure”, and see boosting public and private investments in innovation and “applied knowledge” as an important solution.
CDA and D66 also want to revive ambition in the field of climate. With the caveat: “The 2030 climate target will be difficult, but we will hold on.” Broadly speaking, the parties emphasize on climate that they want to continue with plans devised under Rutte IV, such as making industry more sustainable with wind energy from the North Sea, green hydrogen and . They also want to stimulate the rollout of new heating networks (to make neighborhoods natural gas-free) and D66 and CDA are prepared to buy up private heating companies.
At first, the paragraph seems to fit well with a party like GroenLinks-PvdA. The climate is being taken seriously and the parties are adopting a GroenLinks-PvdA plan: a national insulation offensive for homes. It is also known that the VVD is a major opponent of ‘paying according to use, time and place’, better known as road pricing. D66 and CDA have pledged to spare regions where ‘there is little public transport’ in the case of road pricing.
Yet CDA and D66 also respond to concerns from the industry about competitiveness, often expressed by the VVD. For example, the CO2 tax (a plan that D66 pushed hard for in Rutte IV) is being scrapped and the parties want electricity costs for industry (a wish of CDA and VVD). The negotiations on more investments in climate appear to be the most complicated for the time being.
Emergency night shelter for asylum seekers in Nieuwe Pekela.
Photo VINCENT JANNINK/ANP
Asylum and migration
“Migration has paralyzed politics for far too long,” D66 and CDA write in the document. They feel a strong need to drive the issue off the main political stage, after the Rutte IV cabinet fell and the Schoof cabinet was created.
D66 and CDA mention one that VVD, GroenLinks-PvdA and JA21 agree with. Procedures must be faster, and the deportation of refugees who have exhausted all legal remedies must be much more efficient. The European migration pact, which will take effect in 2026, also provides a framework through which the Dutch asylum system will be reformed in any case. This, among other things, regulates a dual-status system for asylum seekers and makes it possible for Member States to set up detention centers outside the EU.
All three potential partners have indicated that they can be discussed, but they will take a critical look at the proposals currently before them. To start: YES21. This radical right-wing party is in favor of an asylum stop and remigration, but D66 and CDA certainly do not go that far. They want a total of 70,000 shelter places, which must be arranged through the dispersal law. JA21 is completely against the dispersal law.
The plans will not go far enough for the VVD either – for example, that party wants to criminalize illegality, but that idea did not make it into the document. CDA has also wanted illegality to be criminalized for a long time, D66 has not. The VVD is internally divided over the dispersal law – the previous House of Representatives faction voted against, the Senate faction in favor. The election manifesto does state that the party believes “a fair distribution of asylum seekers across the country is necessary.”
For GroenLinks-PvdA, asylum has been a difficult issue in the past. The party wants to implement the European migration pact, but has indicated that The party also wants asylum seekers to be able to work earlier, and this is also included in the plans of D66 and CDA. GroenLinks-PvdA seems to have already accepted that, if the party wants to participate in government, concessions in the field of asylum migration are inevitable.
With regard to labor migration, D66 and CDA want a ban on the use of temporary workers in sectors where “abuses with temporary, low-paid labor migrants persist.” GroenLinks-PvdA is in favour, but the VVD will find that plan difficult to accept.
Soldier in action during a demonstration on the renovated combat range at the Infantry Shooting Camp (ISK).
Photo JEROEN JUMELET/ANP
International
The policy of the Schoof cabinet represented a break with the Netherlands’ decades-long international attitude. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to close diplomatic representations, and Development Aid was faced with a historic round of cuts. Both CDA and D66 want to reverse this: the Netherlands must again become a country “that looks beyond the dikes”.
At the same time, the two parties are continuing the defense investments that have already been made under Schoof. CDA and D66 commit to NATO in the longer term to spend 3.5 percent of GDP on the armed forces. The parties plan to take serious steps to achieve the required increase in personnel (from 80,000 to more than 120,000 in 2030). Young people can take a look at the armed forces through a ‘defense orientation’; , CDA and D66 want to introduce a ‘selective attendance requirement’. In principle, all young people from the age of 18 (now also women) are obliged to stand up for military service, but Defense only calls – a methodology that is also called the ‘Swedish model’.
A prominent place has been reserved in the defense plans for European cooperation – for which D66 in particular is a strong advocate. For example, the parties want to make half of all defense purchases in collaboration with EU partners by 2030 and Europe must work on capabilities for which it is still dependent on the US (such as command systems and strategic transport) – a first step towards a ‘European army’. The “best European security services” should work together under the name ‘Euro Eyes’ – a reference to the Anglo-Saxon ‘5 Eyes’ – countries that operate under the leadership of the US. In order to finance all investments, CDA and D66 want to allow European loans for defense “under strict conditions” – something a majority of the House of Representatives recently approved.
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