Rob Jetten was sworn in as the youngest prime minister of the Netherlands and also the first openly gay leader to hold the country's top position.
Jetten, who is 38 years old, heads a three-party coalition government and takes office after a steady rise through Dutch politics over the past decade.
Jetten was born on March 25, 1987, in the village of Veghel. He grew up in Uden, located in the province of North Brabant. He completed both his bachelor's and master's degrees in public administration from Radboud University. Before entering politics, Jetten worked with ProRail, the Netherlands' state-owned railway infrastructure company, where he handled management and regional supply responsibilities.
Jetten's Political Career
According to a report by The Sunday Guardian, Jetten began his political journey as a policy adviser to Democrats 66 (D66) in the Dutch Senate. He later became chair of the Young Democrats, the youth wing of D66.
He served as a municipal councillor in Nijmegen from 2010 to 2017 before being elected to the House of Representatives in 2017. At the age of 31, he became the parliamentary leader of D66, marking one of the fastest leadership rises within the party.
From 2022 to 2024, Jetten served as Minister for Climate and Energy Policy. In 2024, he took on the role of Deputy Prime Minister and briefly served as acting Finance Minister. In 2026, he was sworn in as Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
Jetten has contested and won multiple national elections. In the 2017 general election, D66 secured 19 seats and Jetten was elected with 4,903 individual votes. He was re-elected in 2021 when the party won 24 seats and he received 45,771 votes. In the 2023 election, D66 won nine seats, with Jetten receiving 437,371 votes. In the 2025 general election, the party improved its performance, securing 26 seats, while Jetten received 1,209,849 votes.
As Prime Minister, Jetten leads a three-party coalition comprising his centrist D66, the centre-right Christian Democrats, and the centre-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. Together, the coalition holds 66 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives, meaning major policy reforms will require negotiations with opposition parties.
Though young, Jetten is considered an experienced lawmaker. During his tenure as climate minister, he oversaw plans for a hydrogen network investment worth 750 million euros by 2031. He also supported increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP in response to growing security concerns in Europe.
During his election campaign, Jetten pledged to reallocate certain expenditures and social benefits to strengthen military capacity. With a narrow parliamentary majority, consensus-building is expected to be central to his leadership approach.
The swearing-in of Jetten was welcomed by COC Netherlands, the country's largest LGBTQIA advocacy organisation. The group described his appointment as a milestone and said his leadership shows that sexual orientation does not limit ambition or opportunity. It also referred to him as a visible role model for young people within the LGBTQIA community.
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Modi Congratulates Jetten
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Jetten on assuming office.
"Congratulations Mr. Rob Jetten on assuming office of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands. India and the Netherlands share an extensive relationship across diverse sectors. I look forward to working closely with you to add further momentum to the growing ties between our two countries and people," Modi wrote on X.
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