ROB ARNOLDUS ADRIANUS JETTEN, born on this date, is a Dutch politician who has been the Leader of the Democrats 66 (D66) party since August 2023 and a member of the House of Representatives since December 2023. He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands from January 2024 to July 2024 and Minister for Climate and Energy Policy from 2022 to 2024.

Jetten began his political career as a policy advisor for the D66 faction in the Senate 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 of Nijmegen. In the 2017 Dutch general election, he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives. Jetten then became his party’s spokesperson for climate, energy and gas, railways, democratic renewal and economic affairs.

In October 2018, Jetten was chosen as the new parliamentary leader of D66 in the House of Representatives, succeeding Alexander Pechtold. This did not automatically make him the new party leader 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 was sworn in in 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 develop a national hydrogen transportation network.

In July 2023, Jetten announced his candidacy to become the next Leader of the D66. He succeeded Sigrid Kaag 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 January 2024 to fill a role at the United Nations, 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 the State Secretary for Finance.

Jetten’s term as minister ended in July 2024, when the Schoof cabinet 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 Senate, 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, he advocated for Dutch defense spending to rise from 2% to 3% of gross domestic product, believing that Europe could no longer rely on the United States for its security following the second inauguration of Donald Trump in 2025.

Jetten would be the Netherlands’ first openly gay leader, although his sexuality has not played an important part in the campaign. The Netherlands is known for its strong protections of LGBTQ rights and his party was in power when the Netherlands became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage 25 years ago.

Jetten announced his engagement to Argentine field hockey player Nicolás Keenan in November 2024, after they had been together for three years.