THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Rob Jetten has become the youngest and first openly gay prime minister of the Netherlands.
Before Jetten, 38, took the oath of office on Monday to lead a minority three-party ruling coalition, Christian Democrat Ruud Lubbers held the record as the youngest premier when he took office in 1982 at age 43. Lubbers went on to become one of the country's longest-serving leaders.
A veteran of Dutch national politics, Jetten's rise to the top of the political ladder comes nearly a decade after he first won a seat in parliament in 2017 for the centrist, pro-European D66 party he now leads.
Back then, he earned himself the nickname “Robot” Jetten after repeating apparently pre-rehearsed and bland responses to journalists’ questions.
Now, Jetten has adopted a relaxed demeanor that has gained popularity with the general public, partly thanks to reaching the final round of a prime-time television quiz called “The Smartest Person.”
He posts regularly on social media, including photos of himself and his partner Nicolás Keenan, an Argentine field hockey star who won a bronze medal with his country's team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Netherlands was the first nation to legalize same-sex marriage, in 2001.
After winning a snap national election in late October, Jetten posted a photo of the pair hugging with a message combining Dutch and Spanish saying: “Dear Nico, thanks for your unconditional support, I couldn’t do it without you.”
He won't be able to accomplish anything as Dutch leader without support from opposition parties in parliament's 150-seat House of Representatives. The three-party coalition he leads holds only 66 seats in the lower house and doesn't have a majority in the upper house, either.
First elected to parliament in 2017, he became a spokesman for his party on climate issues, earning another nickname: climate pusher. As a Cabinet minister under longtime prime minister and now NATO chief Mark Rutte, Jetten championed a comprehensive package of climate legislation encompassing 120 measures costing a total of 28 billion euros that aimed at slashing Dutch carbon emissions by 60% in 2030 compared with 1990 levels.
Jetten grew up in the southeastern town of Uden. He studied business administration at university and went on to work at the government-owned railway infrastructure company ProRail. As a youngster, Jetten was a talented athlete and even ran as a pace setter to assist future Olympic long distance champion Sifan Hassan.
Ministers of the new three-party minority government pose with King Willem-Alexander, center right, prime minster Rob Jetten, center left, and deputy prime minister Dilan Yesilgöz, front row right, on the steps of Royal Palace Huis ten Bosch in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Ministers of the new three-party minority government pose with King Willem-Alexander, center right, prime minster Rob Jetten, center left, and deputy prime minister Dilan Yesilgöz, front row right, on the steps of Royal Palace Huis ten Bosch in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Rob Jetten,leader of the Democrats 66, D66, arrives to be sworn in as prime minister by King Willem-Alexander at Royal Palace Huis ten Bosch in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's latest sanctions package targeting Russia's shadow fleet and energy revenues is being blocked by Hungary, the bloc’s top diplomat said Monday.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc's 27 foreign ministers gathering in Brussels would likely not agree on the 20th package of sanctions which it hoped to pass ahead of the fourth anniversary Tuesday of Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine.
“I think there is not going to be progress regarding this today,” Kallas said before a regular meeting of the EU’s foreign ministers in Brussels where discussion of the 20th sanctions package was planned.
The meeting came after Hungary threatened over the weekend to block the EU sanctions plans and to obstruct a 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine until Russian oil deliveries to Hungary resume.
Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been interrupted since Jan. 27 after what Ukrainian officials say were Russian drone attacks that damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude across Ukrainian territory and into Central Europe. That has led to rising tensions between Budapest and Kyiv.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán doubled down Monday on his unsubstantiated allegation that Ukraine was deliberately holding back shipments of Russian oil, and accused Kyiv of seeking to topple his government.
In a post on social media, Orbán referred to the oil supply disruptions as a “Ukrainian oil blockade” led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“We have given President Zelenskyy firm and proportionate responses,” Orbán wrote. “He, too, must understand: by attacking Hungary, he can only lose.”
For the sanctions to pass, the 27-nation bloc needs to reach a unanimous decision.
Kallas said that efforts would also continue Monday to advance the EU’s 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine.
Facing a crucial election in less than two months, Orbán has launched an aggressive anti-Ukraine campaign and accused the opposition Tisza party, which leads in most polls, of conspiring with the EU and Ukraine to install what he called Monday a “pro-Ukraine government aligned with Brussels and Kyiv.”
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorsk said he believed Hungary’s surprise announcement Sunday could really be about Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán’s fierce fight to hold onto power.
“I would have expected a much greater feeling of solidarity from Hungary for Ukraine,” he said in Brussels. “The ruling party managed to create a climate of hostility towards the victim of aggression. And then it is now trying to exploit that in the general election. It’s quite shocking.”
Nearly every country in Europe has significantly reduced or entirely ceased Russian energy imports since Moscow launched its full-scale war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Yet Hungary and Slovakia, both EU and NATO members, have maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas, and received a temporary exemption from an EU policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil.
“Tomorrow we are entering the fifth year of the war,” said Latvian foreign minister Baiba Braže ahead of the meeting. “We are fully committed both to the 20th sanctions package including maritime and maritime services ban, but also political commitment, economic commitment, military commitment to support European values.”
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he was “astonished by the Hungarian position.”
“I don’t think it is right if Hungary betrays its own fight for freedom and European sovereignty,” Wadephul told reporters in Brussels, alluding to Hungary’s role in the fall of communism in Europe in 1989. “So we will once again come to the Hungarians with our arguments, in Budapest but of course also here in Brussels, for them to reconsider their position.”
“The German position is very clear: we must now show strength, we must support Ukraine sustainably, and we must do exactly what we did last year too: continue to raise the pressure on Russia,” Wadephul said, adding that he is sure the EU will agree on a 20th sanctions package “at the end of the day.”
Also on the line is a major 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) EU loan to Ukraine meant to help Kyiv meet its military and economic needs for the next two years.
“We must release that. We must find an agreement between the member states because Ukraine needs this money heavily,” said Margus Tsahkna, the foreign minister of Estonia.
Corbet reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Justin Spike in Budapest and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
