Young, optimistic and pro-European: the new leader of the Netherlands who has stood up to the far right

BrusselsOptimism and stability. With these two messages, Rob Jetten has stood up to the far right, and now It has all the makings of a contender, At the age of 38, he became the youngest Prime Minister of the Netherlands in history. Jetten based his election campaign on the slogan "Het kan wel[It is possible, and has consistently shown itself open to dialogue and to forming part of a stable governing coalition. No grandstanding or inappropriate behavior. That is to say, exactly the opposite of what the party of the xenophobic Geert Wilders has done during the last legislature.]

Pending the final count, Jetten will sooner or later face the task of forming a new government. He has consistently expressed his openness to forming coalitions with other centrist parties, and the parliamentary arithmetic is in his favor, as he can form a coalition government with other center-left and center-right parties that also performed well. "Millions of Dutch people have turned the page, they have said goodbye to negativity and hatred. They want us to form a stable and ambitious cabinet," the leader of the social-liberal D66 party said Wednesday evening.

Jetten describes himself as "a political geek since childhood," and indeed, he assumed responsibilities very early on: at just 34, he was already leading his party and had served as Minister of Energy in one of the governments led by the current NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte. His rise has been meteoric, although he has also suffered significant setbacks in his career. When he took the helm of D66, for example, he obtained very poor results in the 2023 elections, although he has now recovered the representation he inherited, and then some.

The likely next Dutch Prime Minister studied public administration at Radboud University in Nijmegen. It was in that city where he began his political career: first as a backbencher and later as the head of the D66 party at the municipal level. Then, in 2017, he was elected to the Dutch Parliament and soon after became the leader of a younger parliamentary group.

He was born in Veghel, a small town in the North Brabant region, but soon left and built a life far from the municipality. Openly gay, he has denounced the insults and threats he has received because of his sexual orientation.

One of Jetten's main and most talked-about campaign proposals concerns housing. The lack of apartments and houses in the Netherlands is also one of the major problems facing the Dutch, and D66 has been highly critical of the previous government's lack of housing measures and solutions. One of the initiatives he has put forward is the construction of ten new cities to address the shortage of 400,000 homes, which is the number of apartments and houses that Dutch authorities estimate are needed in the country.

D66 is also a historically pro-European and pro-European Union party, and rather open in terms of immigration and welcoming newcomers, as well as a strong advocate for gender equality and, among others, the LGBTIQ+ community. Regarding the war in Ukraine, and also unlike Wilders, the social liberals are clearly opposed to Vladimir Putin's regime and have consistently supported Kyiv in its defense against the Russian invasion.

Comparisons with Rutte

Comparisons between Jetten and Rutte, the longest-serving former prime minister in Dutch history, were quick to emerge. Media outlets, political analysts, and even fellow party members see certain similarities between the social-liberal leader and the current NATO Secretary General. On the one hand, they occupy a similar ideological space, although Jetten is more progressive. On the other, they share similar styles and the possibility of forming a stable and lasting government.

However, it's still early days, and negotiations to form a government have only just begun. Furthermore, the D66 leader has faced criticism for a perceived lack of charisma, and some media outlets have dubbed him "Robot Jetten" because he doesn't seem to relax in front of the cameras and always appears very stiff. Even a fellow party member alluded to this in statements to the media. "Rutte is a chatterbox, Jetten is a bit quieter," he said, although they are confident that he will get used to being in front of the cameras.