The Netherlands is a western European country that hosts Europe's biggest ports. May 5th is Liberation Day, the Dutch equivalent of America's July 4th, celebrating national freedom from Nazi occupation—the 80th anniversary falls in 2025. In September 1944, during an ill-fated Allied operation at Arnhem (later depicted in the film "A Bridge Too Far"), America's 82nd Airborne Division suffered over 1,400 casualties.
Parliament contains 15 parties. After the November 2023 election, Geert Wilders's Party for Freedom (PVV) formed a coalition with the centre-right VVD (led by Dilan Yesilgöz), New Social Contract and the Farmer-Citizen Movement — the farthest-right government since the second world war. A non-partisan prime minister, Dick Schoof, led the cabinet. On June 3rd 2025 Wilders pulled the plug on the coalition, complaining other parties had sabotaged his immigration plans.
In the October 2025 election, D66 under Rob Jetten tied the PVV for first place: each won 16.7% of the vote and 26 seats. D66 surged from just nine seats; the PVV fell from 37. Mr Jetten, 38, would be the Netherlands' youngest prime minister ever and its first openly gay one. Every major party ruled out co-operating with Wilders again. Frans Timmermans resigned as leader of the GreenLeft-Labour alliance after it lost five seats, ending up with 20. The centrist Christian Democrats (CDA) won 18 seats—a big gain—and the VVD, led by Dilan Yesilgöz, got 22. JA21, a smaller hard-right party, leapt from one seat to nine. Fifteen parties made it into parliament. The chief issues were housing and immigration.
The Netherlands hosted the NATO summit on June 24th–25th 2025 in The Hague.
Henri Bontenbal, an amiable new leader, has revived the Christian Democrats—once the country's biggest party but more recently written off for dead.
The Netherlands faces a shortage of some 400,000 homes. Public-housing corporations account for about 30% of all Dutch housing. They build only half as many homes as they promise each year; waiting-lists are ten years long in some cities. Many economists blame a shift since the 1990s to a hotch-potch of regulations and subsidies that make building unprofitable for the corporations. Tighter limits on rent-controlled apartments introduced in 2023 led many landlords to sell those properties, inflating demand in the uncontrolled sector. Of the public-housing units that become available, 7% go to refugees.
Rotterdam, Europe's biggest port, has some 650,000 inhabitants, the majority of whom have immigrant backgrounds. The city was once home to the Holland America Line, which ferried European emigrants to America. In 2025 the Fenix museum opened in a former Holland America Line warehouse—the first institution in the world to explore migration through art.
The Netherlands has become a centre for the "nearshoring" of cocaine processing. In 2024 police destroyed 24 cocaine labs in the country. European gangs import coca base—a less refined product than pure cocaine—and process it locally because chemists are easier to find in Amsterdam than the Amazon, and because European gangs want to increase their margins. See cocaine trade.
The Hague, the seat of the Dutch government, has a global reputation as a hub for international law. Its 50-odd international bodies and scores of related NGOs generate €2.7bn ($3.1bn) annually and support 36,000 jobs in a city with half a million residents. The city is home to both the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. The declining prestige of international criminal justice—the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia closed in 2017, a Hariri assassination tribunal shut in 2023 for lack of funds, and the ICC is under pressure from Donald Trump's sanctions—has been felt in The Hague, though some American NGOs have been approaching justice organisations about relocating there.
After years of carnage on New Year's Eve, the Dutch parliament outlawed private fireworks, with the ban taking effect from the 2026/27 season.
The Dutch pension system is the EU's largest, with assets of €1.9trn—about 145% of GDP. Until recently, Dutch schemes were "defined-benefit" (DB), offering fixed retirement incomes and buying long-term government bonds for their near-certain payouts. A reform of the pension regulations is now shifting the system to "defined-contribution" (DC), in which retirees receive variable incomes depending on portfolio performance. On January 1st 2026 schemes overseeing 35-40% of total Dutch pension assets moved to the DC model, according to Corine Reedijk of Aon; the majority of remaining schemes will transition from January 1st 2027, and all that are open to new members must do so by 2028.
The shift is removing a powerful source of demand for long-term European government bonds. DC schemes lack fixed liabilities stretching far into the future, making risky assets such as stocks more attractive. The Dutch central bank forecasts that pension schemes will reduce their holdings of bonds with maturities over 25 years by €100bn-150bn as they transition—a significant chunk of the €900bn-worth of such bonds outstanding. Pension funds own roughly 10% of euro-zone sovereign bonds with maturities over ten years, of which the Dutch system accounts for two-thirds. The change is expected to push up long-term borrowing costs across the continent, particularly for AAA-rated issuers such as Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
The Netherlands has traditionally been one of Europe's most pro-American countries, a bond rooted in shared values and a pragmatic interest in free trade. The commercial, non-ideological Dutch came to think of themselves as "the Americans of Europe." By early April 2025, however, only 20% of Dutch people expected America to play a positive role in the world, down from 50% in October 2024, according to Ipsos polling.
When I was 16, I thought there was no hope for my father. By the time I was 20, he had made great improvement.