Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten has staved off the imminent collapse of his minority government after marathon talks on Saturday.
The government however remained embroiled in a political crisis over tax policy.
Following more than seven hours of crisis talks with his coalition partners, during which the government's future hung by a thread, Jetten emerged to reveal they would stay together, for now.
"In recent days, many good things have happened, but also things that have not gone well... we have to do better," Jetten said.
"And that requires in-depth talks, which we began today. This conversation is not yet complete. For that reason, I will spend the next few days continuing these talks with the three coalition parties, in a calm and measured manner."
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At 39, Jetten is the Netherlands’ youngest-ever prime minister.
The crisis erupted on Friday when one of Jetten's two coalition partners, the right-wing VVD party, voted against the government's own tax plan.
VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz said she had been blindsided after Jetten and the other coalition partner, the centre-right CDA, had clinched support from left-wing parties to push through the tax deal.
"For us, the minority cabinet is a failed experiment and it cannot go on like this," she told reporters after the talks.
The spat raised the prospect of snap elections in the European Union's fifth-largest economy, just nine months after centrist Jetten swept to power.
His three-party grouping holds only 66 seats in the 150-member parliament, meaning they have to seek support from other parties to pass legislation.
Yesilgoz had called for a "fundamental reset" of the coalition and even Jetten acknowledged the need for a "serious fresh start".
Jetten called Yesilgoz and a top CDA official for crisis talks earlier Friday in a last-ditch effort to salvage his cabinet.
The chaos in the Netherlands echoes similar difficulties in neighbouring Belgium, where the governing coalition is in disarray over budget talks. Both Jetten and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever had skipped a crunch meeting of EU leaders in Dublin this week to focus on their domestic woes.
Polls show that in the Netherlands, the left-wing PRO party and their energetic young leader Jesse Klaver would win a snap election, with far-right firebrand Geert Wilders in second place.
"This coalition is effectively dead. We just have to wait for the funeral to take place," Wilders said.
Wilders had sparked elections in 2025 when he pulled his party out of government in a row over immigration.
Against the odds, Jetten pulled off a stunning election win last year, coming from behind to defeat Wilders by a wafer-thin number of votes.
Jetten won widespread praise for his campaign, pushing a positive message and showing that the far right could be defeated in Europe.
After four months of haggling with the CDA and VVD leaders to form a coalition, he was finally sworn in as prime minister in February, becoming the country's first openly gay leader.
