Benelux & Ireland in February 2026: the most important developments in politics
In February 2026 the main political development in the Benelux countries and Ireland was the change of government in the Netherlands. Rob Jetten was sworn in as the youngest prime minister in the country's history, leading a minority government. The new health minister faces the dual task of improving healthcare while cutting costs. Outgoing Prime Minister Dick Schoof had drawn criticism earlier in the month for saying that the Russian army advances "like a garden snail", a remark Russia's foreign ministry called undiplomatic.
Russia and the war in Ukraine ran through much of the month's news. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on 3 February that NATO troops could enter Ukraine after a peace deal. A legislator accused him of verbal escalation and threats toward Russia, and reports said that some NATO and EU members opposed his stance. Rutte also praised US President Donald Trump's influence on NATO as the debate on EU defense grew heated, and together with French President Emmanuel Macron he urged the EU to provide more aid to Ukraine. A US court rejected Russia's bid to overturn a 2015 ruling ordering it to pay more than $50 billion to former shareholders of the Yukos oil company.
Belgium and the United States were in a diplomatic dispute. On 17 February Belgium summoned the US ambassador and reprimanded him for accusing Belgian officials of antisemitism in a case involving an illegal circumcision, saying his public criticism of its legal proceedings overstepped diplomatic limits. The ambassador also urged the Belgian government to condemn a party leader for comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler. Separately, the Netherlands summoned the Iranian ambassador over the seizure of diplomatic luggage, and the Dutch foreign minister and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed strong bilateral ties in their first official call.
Other items included the start of a new trial of Kosovo's former president Hashim Thaci at The Hague, where he declared himself "completely innocent" of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and an investigation by Brussels prosecutors into the online retailer Shein over the alleged sale of childlike sex dolls.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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