Rob Arnoldus Adrianus Jetten (; born 25 March 1987) is a Dutch politician who has been the

Leader of the Democrats 66 The Party leader, Leader of the Democrats 66 is the most senior politician within the Democrats 66 (, D66) party in the Netherlands. The post is currently held by Rob Jetten who was elected on 12 August 2023 and led the party into the 2023 Dutch g ...

(D66) party since August 2023 and a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

since December 2023. He previously served as

Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands The deputy prime minister of the Netherlands ( or ) is the official Deputy prime minister, deputy of the head of government of the Netherlands. In the absence of the prime minister of the Netherlands the deputy prime minister takes over his fun ...

from January 2024 to July 2024 and Minister for Climate and Energy Policy from 2022 to 2024.

Early life and education

Rob Arnoldus Adrianus Jetten was born on 25 March 1987 in

Veghel Veghel () is a town and a former municipality in Southern Netherlands. On 1 January 2017 Veghel, together with Schijndel and Sint-Oedenrode, merged into a new municipality called Meierijstad. This created the largest municipality of the provi ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

, Netherlands. He grew up in

Uden Uden () is a town and former municipality in the province of North Brabant, in the Netherlands. Since 2022 it has been part of the new municipality of Maashorst. History Uden was first recorded around 1190 as "Uthen". However, earlier settle ...

and attended his secondary education at Udens College between 1999 and 2005. He then studied at

Radboud University Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, , formerly ) is a public research university located in Nijmegen, Netherlands. RU has seven faculties and more than 24,000 students. Established in 1923, Radboud University has consistently been included in ...

between 2005 and 2011, where he obtained a BA and an MA, both in

Public Administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

. After a period as a management trainee at the Dutch railway authority

ProRail ProRail () is a Dutch government organisation responsible for the maintenance and extension of the national railway network infrastructure (not the metro or tram), the allocation of rail capacity, and controlling rail traffic. Prorail is a part ...

, he continued working there as a consultant and as a regional supply manager for the north-eastern Netherlands.

Political career

Jetten began his political career as a policy advisor for the D66 faction in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of the States General and as the chairman of the Young Democrats. In addition, between 2010 and 2017, he was a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

. In the

2017 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives. The incumbent government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte was the first to s ...

, he was elected as a member of the

. Jetten then became his party's spokesperson for climate, energy and gas, railways, democratic renewal and economic affairs. On 9 October 2018, Jetten was chosen as the new parliamentary leader of D66 in the House of Representatives, succeeding

Alexander Pechtold Alexander Pechtold (born 16 December 1965) is a Dutch politician and art historian. He is a member of Democrats 66. Pechtold studied Archaeology and History of Dutch Art at Leiden University, and obtained a Master of Arts degree. Pechtold work ...

. This did not automatically make him the new

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a politica ...

as the new leader eventually was to be chosen in the 2020 Democrats 66 leadership election. Aged 31, Jetten became the youngest ever parliamentary leader of D66. After his election, Jetten faced criticism in Dutch media because of his relative young age. When the

fourth Rutte cabinet The fourth Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 10 January 2022 until 2 July 2024. The cabinet was a continuation of the third Rutte cabinet and was formed by the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( ...

was sworn in on 10 January 2022, Jetten became Minister for Climate and Energy Policy. Under his leadership, the Dutch government announced plans in 2022 to invest 750 million euros ($789 million) through to 2031 to have the country's gas network operator

Gasunie N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie (short form: Gasunie) is a Dutch natural gas infrastructure and transportation company operating in the Netherlands and Germany. Gasunie owns the Netherlands gas transmission network with a total length of over and long ...

develop a national hydrogen transportation network. On 14 July 2023, Jetten announced his candidacy to become the next Leader of the D66. He succeeded

Sigrid Kaag Sigrid Agnes Maria Kaag (; born 2 November 1961) is a Dutch politician, humanitarian and diplomat who is the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process since 2025 and the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Ga ...

after she announced that she would not lead D66 into the 2023 general election, due to the impact of the "hate, intimidation and threats" she receives on her family. Jetten returned to the House of Representatives as parliamentary leader after the election. Following Kaag's resignation effective 8 January 2024 to fill a role at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, Jetten took over her position as Deputy Prime Minister, and he served as acting Minister of Finance for four days. However, his tasks for the latter were in practice delegated to State Secretary for Finance

Marnix van Rij Marnix Leonard Alexander van Rij (; born 25 October 1960) is a Dutch politician. Life Van Rij grew up in Wassenaar, and he started his career in 1983 as a tax assistant at a tax firm. In addition, he became a member of the Wassenaar Municip ...

. Jetten's term as minister ended on 2 July 2024, when the

Schoof cabinet The Schoof cabinet is the current demissionary cabinet of the Netherlands, sworn in on 2 July 2024. Led by independent politician and civil servant Dick Schoof as prime minister of the Netherlands, the cabinet was formed after the 2023 Dutch gen ...

was sworn in. When that cabinet presented its 2025 budget which included €2 billion in education cuts, Jetten formed the self-named "unholy alliance" with centrist and conservative opposition parties. Coalition parties needed additional support in the

, but D66 pulled out of negotiations in early December 2024, a week before an agreement was reached to reverse €750 million of the cuts. During the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, he advocated for Dutch defense spending to rise from 2% to 3% of

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

, believing that Europe could no longer rely on the United States for its security following the second inauguration of US president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in 2025.

Personal life

Jetten announced his engagement to Argentinian field hockey player

Nicolás Keenan Nicolás Santiago Keenan (born 6 May 1997) is an Argentine field hockey player who plays as a midfielder or forward for Dutch Hoofdklasse club Klein Zwitserland and the Argentina national team. Club career Keenan played for Club Egara in Spa ...

in November 2024, after they had been together for over three years.

Electoral history

Honours

* : Grand Cross of the

Order of Civil Merit The Royal Order of Civil Merit (; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OMC) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bestowed by the Kingdom of Spain, alongside the Order of Charles III (established in 1771) and the Order ...

(9 April 2024)

References

External links

Official *
Drs. R.A.A. (Rob) Jetten
Parlement.com *
Jetten R.A.A. (D66)
Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Jetten, Rob 1987 births Living people Democrats 66 politicians Dutch people of Indonesian descent Dutch political consultants Dutch speechwriters Dutch gay writers Dutch gay politicians Leaders of the Democrats 66 LGBTQ cabinet members of the Netherlands LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the Netherlands Dutch MPs 2023– Ministers without portfolio of the Netherlands Municipal councillors of Nijmegen People from Veghel Radboud University Nijmegen alumni 21st-century Dutch LGBTQ people Ministers of finance of the Netherlands Deputy prime ministers of the Netherlands Dutch MPs 2017–2021 Dutch MPs 2021–2023