Dutch PM Jetten skips Antalya climate summit to push tax plan through parliament

Jetten stays in The Hague

Prime Minister Rob Jetten will not travel to the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, where talks opened on Monday, 9 November. He had been due to leave on Wednesday, 11 November. A spokesperson for the Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst said he will remain in the Netherlands to help the tax plan (belastingplan) find support, at least until Thursday afternoon. The climate envoy will represent the Netherlands in the coming days, and Minister of Climate and Green Growth Stientje van Veldhoven (D66) will travel to Antalya next week. Other leaders are also absent. Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend, and United States President Donald Trump is not coming to Turkey either, after Washington withdrew from the Paris Agreement and the UN climate convention under his administration.

Tax plan deadlock

The tax plan still lacks a majority in both the Tweede Kamer and the Eerste Kamer, according to Telegraaf, after months of negotiations. Party leaders from D66, VVD and CDA are looking for support on both the left and the right, but no breakthrough has been reported. NRC reports that the plan is to be voted on in the Tweede Kamer on Thursday. Coalition and opposition party leaders were to meet again on Monday after a difficult weekend. CDA leader Henri Bontenbal was criticised by Joost Eerdmans (JA21) and Henk Vermeer (BBB), who said he was not making a serious attempt to negotiate. Bontenbal in turn accused coalition partner VVD of not moving enough. Cabinet ministers have no formal role in the process but are involved in the background.

Criticism from climate groups

Rosa van Driel, a climate lobbyist at Care Nederland, said the absence was a clear disappointment.

“It is very disappointing that Prime Minister Jetten is not present at the climate summit.”

Van Driel argued that political leadership on climate policy is badly needed right now, and that the Netherlands is not on track to meet its own climate targets and carries international responsibility. She said the country should not stand on the sidelines.

Greenpeace campaign leader Maarten de Zeeuw also reacted sharply from the conference venue.

“Once again the climate is paying the price of a political crisis, which is the result of short-term thinking.”

De Zeeuw said the Jetten cabinet is showing too little climate action and that the prime minister would need to present better climate plans, including making large polluters pay, to stay credible on the world stage.

Background and next steps

The Antalya trip would have been Jetten's first climate summit as prime minister. As minister of Climate he had attended the UN climate summits before, and he was once called a 'klimaatdrammer' (climate nag), a label he later embraced as a badge of honour. His spokesperson pointed to his remark from last week that he would be where he is needed.

Jetten's visit to Sint Eustatius next week is still scheduled. On Monday, 16 November, he is due to attend, together with the King and state secretary Eric van der Burg (VVD, Kingdom Relations), a commemoration service by The First Salute. The event marks 250 years since 16 November 1776, when the island answered the salute of an American warship with a cannon salute, widely seen as the first recognition of American independence by a foreign power. Jetten travels on Sunday and is due back in the Netherlands on Wednesday morning. The last moment to vote on the tax plan is Thursday, 19 November, so that the Belastingdienst systems can be ready for 2027.