The coalition that supports the Government of the Netherlands has managed this Friday, at least temporarily, to avoid its breakdown after an intense round of negotiations of about seven hours. The last-minute agreement has served to persuade the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) to continue in the alliance, despite the fact that the liberal party had threatened to leave it due to the processing of a new tax aimed at large fortunes.
The internal clash was triggered by a relatively limited change in this tax measure which, however, has had an almost lethal impact on the already fragile coalition led by Prime Minister Rob Jetten. The executive is a tripartite made up of his party, Democrats 66, together with the VVD and the Christian Appeal (CDA), which governs in a minority with only 66 of the 150 seats in the lower house.
"The conversation has not ended," Jetten said in a media appearance, in which he admitted that at least "the fact that nobody stormed out with their own doors slamming behind them shows that everyone is thinking, above all, about the good of the country."
The levy on millionaires has not yet cleared all the parliamentary process, since it requires the approval of the upper house. If it receives final green light, it will apply an annual tax of 38.5% on certain financial assets, such as shares, among others.
The legislative bill also includes specific measures against evasion in the payment of inheritance taxes "through so-called paper donations, when the money is delivered legally but not transferred."
Deputy Prime Minister and VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegeriu has warned that the current scenario is unsustainable. "We cannot continue like this. For the VVD, a minority cabinet is a failed experiment," she said after the round of contacts, in which the possible consequences of the tax reform for the business fabric have not yet been discussed in detail.
With the aim of restoring balance in a cabinet that, in her view, is "tilting too far to the left," Yesilgöz-Zegeriu has opened the door to bringing another party into the current minority executive. In any case, she stressed that "the coming days are crucial and the outcome is still not secure."