Dutch centrists’ win shows beating populists is possible, D66’s Jetten says
D66’s Jetten spoke with AFP news agency this afternoon, telling them that the party has “shown to the rest of Europe and the world that it is possible to beat the populist movements if you campaign with a positive message for your country.”
He also told reporters that there was no time to waste when it comes to coalition talks.
“We do not want to waste time unnecessarily because the Dutch people are asking us to get to work,” he said.
Key events
Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia becomes the world’s tallest church after new part of tower put in place
You may have missed it, but – in other news – Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica became the world’s tallest church after a part of its central tower was lifted into place.
The masterwork of the architect Antoni Gaudí now rises to 162.91 metres (534ft 8in) above the city, the church said in a statement. That beats the spire of Ulm Minster in Germany, which tops out at 161.53 metres.
The Sagrada Familia has not formally laid claim to the title but the numbers are there to compare: it is now 1.38 metres (4ft 6in) taller than the church in Baden-Württemberg.
And it is still growing. The central Tower of Jesus Christ that is rising from the top of the church will reach to 172 metres when it is completed in the coming months.
Next steps in Dutch coalition talks – analysis
Senay Boztas
in Amsterdam
By parliamentary convention, the leader of the winning party takes the lead in a coalition-formation process. But with the fragmented result – in which many far-right voters deserted Wilders but chose the far-right JA21 and Forum for Democracy – it will be difficult to form a government.
Jetten on Friday urged all mainstream parties to unite. “Voters have clearly indicated the need for cooperation,” Jetten said. “We want to find a majority that will eagerly work on issues such as the housing market, migration, climate and the economy.“
Léonie de Jonge, an expert in far-right extremism at the University of Tübingen, said the clear win did not make the path ahead much easier.
“D66 gets to initiate the formation of the government, but still I think the underlying message of the election is that the far right is not defeated,” she said. “I think the real challenge is moving forward, forming a government with the increasingly fragmented landscape that Dutch politics now constitutes.”
Although a left-right coalition with the centrist Christian Democratic Appeal, VVD and GreenLeft-Labour would be strongest in the lower and upper chambers, the VVD leader, Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, said repeatedly during the campaign that ruling with the left was something she “did not see happening”.
Louvre was exposed to heist by chronic underestimation of risk, minister says
Elsewhere, French culture minister Rachida Dati said that a “chronic, structural underestimation of the risk of intrusions and theft” left the Louvre exposed for over 20 years to the kind of heist the museum experienced this month.
A preliminary report into the theft found inadequate safety equipment, poor organisation and obsolete protocols at the museum, Dati told TF1 TV in comments reported by Reuters.
“The devices as they were installed, the alarm and security devices as they were installed on the day of the theft at the Louvre Museum, functioned properly,” but that wasn’t enough to prevent the robbery as security “was not a priority”, Dati said.
She said that the museum will introduce additional security by the end of the year, including anti-intrusion devices and anti-vehicle ramming barriers on nearby public roads.
Poland intercepts Russian plane over Baltic Sea in third incident this week
Meanwhile, Poland said that its jets intercepted a Russian reconnaissance plane, an Ilyushin Il-20, over the Baltic Sea in the third incident of this kind this week.
The aircraft did not violate Polish airspace, the Polish army said, but it had its transponder turned off and failed to file a flight plan.
“This is already the third such incident this week, confirming the increasing activity of Russian aviation in the Baltic region,” the army said.
Poland remains on high alert after last month’s Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace during a broader attack on western Ukraine.
Dutch centrists’ win shows beating populists is possible, D66’s Jetten says
D66’s Jetten spoke with AFP news agency this afternoon, telling them that the party has “shown to the rest of Europe and the world that it is possible to beat the populist movements if you campaign with a positive message for your country.”
He also told reporters that there was no time to waste when it comes to coalition talks.
“We do not want to waste time unnecessarily because the Dutch people are asking us to get to work,” he said.
D66’s leader Jetten claims victory in Dutch election
Rob Jetten, leader of the centrist D66 party projected to win the most seats in the Dutch parliamentary election, has claimed victory in a post on X.
“Thank you for all your trust. We are the largest party in the Netherlands! Now we will get to work for *all* Dutch people,” Jetten said, posting a picture of himself in a triumphant pose from the election night.
Separately, he told reporters that he was “incredibly happy” and stressed it was a “historic result” for the party, which will be the largest in the Dutch parliament for the first time in history.
If you want to learn more about the likely next Dutch prime minister – who would be the country’s youngest at 38 and the first out gay man to hold the post – you can read Jetten’s profile by Senay Boztas here:
The ANP news agency offered a bit more colour on how they reached their conclusion, via De Telegraaf.
The agency looked at various scenarios of what could happen with the outstanding votes – in Venray and from overseas postal voters – and concluded that, accounting for historical patterns, the PVV could no longer catch up D66, which currently leads by just over 15,000 votes.
Hence their declaration of the winner – but, obviously, that’s not the official declaration just yet.
Jakub Krupa
As we reported yesterday (Europe Live, Thursday), the main parties in the Netherlands are set to meet on Tuesday to discuss the first early steps in the government-forming process, which is expected to last a month.
They will look to appoint a “scout” to explore potential coalitions in the new parliament.
Centrist D66 party won most votes in Dutch election, provisional results say
Centrist party D66, led by charismatic 38-year-old Rob Jetten, has won the most votes in this week’s Dutch parliamentary election, the country’s news agency ANP said.
The agency collects the results from all municipalities in the Netherlands, and its provisional figures show that D66 now has an unassailable lead over Geert Wilders’s far-right PVV party, AD and De Telegraaf reported.
But technically the final results are yet to be determined as the vote count continues in the municipality of Venray, expected to come later today, and with postal votes from overseas.
The final figures will also determine if D66 could also get another seat in the new parliament, potentially becoming the largest party in the new parliament in terms of seats – currently tied with PVV at 26.
Wives, mothers, fighters, activists: the millennial women keeping Ukraine going
Charlotte Higgins
Back to Ukraine, the country which is increasingly held together, behind the military lines, by women.
Those in their 30s – millennial women born into an independent Ukraine, raised in economic turbulence and thrust into adulthood on the wave of revolution and war – are shouldering huge burdens of responsibility.
They are fundraising for the army, or sometimes serving in it. They are running civil society organisations, advocating for their country abroad and becoming activists.
At the same time, unlike their male counterparts who are forbidden from leaving the country and are eligible for conscription, they have choices – to join the army, or not; to stay in the country, or not. For some, the question of whether to have children, when the war shows no sign of abating, looms large. For many of them, exhaustion, stress and grief are constant companions.
We spoke to six Ukrainian women aged between 29 and 40 about their lives.
Serbia’s largest youth-led protest movement since Milošević’s fall divided on what’s next
Ana Milosavljevic in Belgrade
Sixteen people were killed when the newly renovated canopy of Novi Sad’s main railway station collapsed on 1 November 2024, a disaster that critics say exposed much more than faulty construction and sparked Serbia’s largest youth-led protest movement since the fall of Slobodan Milošević.
To begin with, the students’ anger felt generalised, a howl of protest at a political system they saw as corrupt, repressive and to blame for substandard renovation work on the railway station.
But, in recent months, a growing number of them have been honing their demands, calling for snap parliamentary elections to usher in a new political class.
“If, after everything, a new government fails to bring justice for the 16 victims of the canopy collapse, they will face the same fate as this government,” said Hodžić, a student from the majority Muslim city of Novi Pazar, last week.
On Saturday, exactly a year on from the disaster, he will join tens of thousands of others in Novi Sad for a demonstration aimed at telling Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia’s authoritarian president, that they aren’t going anywhere.
The student-led movement says it has awakened the spirit of a generation once convinced politics was pointless, and taken much of Serbian society with it.
Their dilemma, however, is clear: despite the sustained turnout, Vučić remains in place, happy to shrug off the protesters as “cowards and wretches”, as he presides over a state apparatus largely controlled by his party. In the face of such immovability, the students are contemplating where they go from here – and they don’t always agree with one another.
Last December, when they first gathered in democratic plenums to debate tactics and strategy, unity was built around a shared refusal to engage with established political institutions. That principle, once a source of strength, has now become a pronounced line of fracture.
Thousands of Serbian students march from Belgrade to Novi Sad to mark train disaster anniversary
Meanwhile in Serbia, thousands of students are walking from the capital, Belgrade, to Novi Sad to mark the first anniversary of a deadly train station disaster, which killed 16 people and triggered a year of mass protests against perceived state corruption under president Aleksandar Vučić.
They have been demanding accountability for the disaster, and an early parliamentary election that they hope will oust Vučić’s populist government from power, AP said.
On Thursday, flag-waving university students led the huge column of marchers as they set off on the 55 mile (90km) journey toward Novi Sad, AP noted.
The students plan to get to Novi Sad in time for Saturday’s major demonstration against Vučić and his administration on the first anniversary of the disaster on 1 November.
Lithuania sees more smuggling balloons disrupting Vilnius airport last night
Over in Lithuania, Vilnius airport had to briefly close again last night after more smuggling balloons were reported, causing further disruption for passengers – just days after the Lithuanian government vowed to do whatever it takes to stop them from coming.
The restrictions were in place for around three hours, disrupting several flights; the fifth incident in the last 10 days.
Responding to the reports, the Lithuanian president, Gitanas Nausėda, warned that “hybrid attacks are continuing”, and insisted the authorities “will respond with all possible measures.”
In comments reported by the public broadcaster LRT, he said Lithuania’s response would include “kinetic measures,” but noted that “destroying balloons is not simple – it requires great precision”.
Six people arrested after explosives used to break into gold refining lab in France
In other news, six people armed with military-grade weapons used explosives to break into a gold refining laboratory in Lyon, slightly injuring five employees in the latest high-profile daytime heist to hit France, AFP reported.
The audacious raid in the eastern city took place on Thursday afternoon, with police quickly arresting the suspected perpetrators and recovering the loot estimated at 12 million euros ($13.8m), officials said.
“Six people who used explosives in an attack on a precious metals company in Lyon were caught red-handed,” interior minister Laurent Nunez said on X, praising officers for their “firmness, speed and control”.
Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were also seized, AFP said.
Situation in Ukraine ‘feels increasingly like protracted war’ with concerns over healthcare settings, energy supplies, UN coordinator says
The UN humanitarian coordinator on Ukraine warned that the conflict “feels increasingly like a protracted war,” with all hopes of a swift resolution fading away.
“We have been through phases this year where there was cautious optimism that it might end right now. On the ground, it doesn’t feel at all like it’s ending any time soon,” he said.
Speaking in Geneva, the UN assistant secretary-general Matthias Schmale also warned that “this year has been deadlier than 2024 in terms of civilian casualties”, with a 30% increase year-on-year.
Schmale said he was growing worried about “the increased military pressures and attacks along the frontline” with more evacuations from conflict areas.
He also said he was concerned about “key public service installations” increasingly affected by Russian attacks, including healthcare settings, which saw more than 360 attacks between January and October, and energy production capacities and distribution facilities.
“If the winter is much colder than last year, as is for the moment anticipated, if the energy destruction continues and the rate of recovery does not hold up with a rate of destruction, we are very worried about [it],” he said, warning it could “turn into a major crisis.”
“If … we have a harsh winter and have people in cities like Zaporizhzhia or Kharkiv or Dnipro near the frontline … in high-rise apartment buildings stuck without electricity or safe water for days on end, there is no way that, with the available resources, we would be able to respond to a major crisis within this crisis,” he said.
Morning opening: What’s next for Ukraine?
Jakub Krupa
Ukraine has reported another series of attacks from Russia overnight, including a strike on the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, which injured at least 11 residents, local authorities said.
The Sumy region borders Russia and has been under constant attack from drones and missiles, Reuters reported. The emergency services said on the Telegram messenger service that Russia had struck a residential multistorey building, private houses and infrastructure facilities.
Separately, it emerged that Russia has in recent months attacked Ukraine with a cruise missile whose secret development prompted Donald Trump to abandon a nuclear arms control pact with Moscow in his first term as US president.
Ukrainian officials told Reuters that Russia has fired the ground-launched 9M729 missile at Ukraine 23 times since August, with one missile allegedly flying over 750 miles (1,200km) before hitting its targets in Ukraine.
The reports highlight the troubling lack of progress in Trump’s plan to end the war in Ukraine, with the Financial Times newspaper reporting that a planned Budapest summit between Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin was cancelled because of Moscow’s continuing hardline demands.
In a memo, the Kremlin reportedly requested “territorial concessions, a steep reduction of Ukraine’s armed forces and guarantees it will never join Nato,” the paper said (£).
I will keep an eye on official reactions to the overnight attacks and bring you the latest here. Elsewhere, I will also keep an eye on the latest in the Netherlands, as we still wait for the final results of this week’s parliamentary election.
It’s Friday, 31 October 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Comment ×