2026 in the Netherlands

Events from the year 2026 in the Netherlands.

Incumbents

• Monarch: Willem-Alexander
• Prime Minister: Dick Schoof (until 23 February); Rob Jetten (since 23 February)

Events

January

• 1 January
• During the night of New Year's Day, a fire razes the Vondelkerk church tower in Amsterdam.
• New Year's celebrations lead to widespread disorder nationwide, with petrol bombs thrown at police in Breda and 14 people sustaining eye injuries in Rotterdam. Two men are killed in fireworks incidents in Nijmegen and Aalsmeer.
• 29 January
• Severe winter weather bring snow and ice across much of the country, prompting KNMI code orange warnings for dangerous travel conditions and causing widespread disruption to transport nationwide.
• At Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, hundreds of flights are cancelled over several days due to snow-covered runways and deicing constraints, including around 450 cancellations on 5 January alone.
• NS services are affected by weather conditions and temporarily shut down on 6 January after snow and frozen railroad switches make operations unsafe, with services gradually resuming later that day.
• 89 January Storm Goretti brings strong wind gusts across the country and causes heavy snow in the provinces of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and on the West Frisian Islands.
• 15 January Four people are injured in an explosion that destroys several buildings in the historic centre of Utrecht.
• 20 January – Seven members of the House of Representatives led by Gidi Markuszower defect from the PVV and announce their intention to form an independent bloc.
• 27 January – The Overijssel District Court sentences an Eritrean national to 20 years' imprisonment for leading a criminal network that trafficked migrants across the Mediterranean from Libya and subjected them to abuse and extortion upon arrival in the Netherlands.

February

• 6 February – The Netherlands returns a 3,500-year-old Ancient Egyptian sculpture to Egypt after a Dutch investigation confirmed the artefact, which surfaced at an art fair in Maastricht, had been looted and unlawfully removed during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
• 6–22 February – Netherlands at the 2026 Winter Olympics
• 23 February – Rob Jetten is inaugurated as prime minister.

March

• 5 March – The Royal Netherlands Navy joins the European naval task force in defending Cyprus against Iranian missile strikes.
• 5–8 March – 2026 World Allround Speed Skating Championships at Thialf in Heerenveen.
• 12 March – Iceland and the Netherlands announce they will both intervene on the side of South Africa in the International Court of Justice's genocide case against Israel.
• 13 March – A suspected arson attack is carried out on a synagogue in Rotterdam.
• 14 March –
• A magnitude 3.0 earthquake strikes Drenthe, near Geelbroek.
• An explosion lightly damages a Jewish school in Amsterdam, with no injuries reported.
• 16 March – An explosion causes a fire at an office building in Zuidas, with no reported injuries.
• 18 March – 2026 Dutch municipal elections
• 22 March – Between 200 and 300 demonstrators gather in Amsterdam, to protest against the war and the Iranian government.
• 25 March – Under the in Maastricht, the remains of legendary French musketeer d'Artagnan are believed to be found.

Predicted and scheduled

• 14–30 August – 2026 Mens and Women's FIH Hockey World Cup in Wavre, Belgium and Amstelveen, Netherlands.

Holidays

• 1 January New Year's Day
• 3 April Good Friday
• 5 April Easter Sunday
• 6 April Easter Monday
• 27 April King's Day
• 5 May Liberation Day
• 14 May Ascension Day
• 2425 June Pentecost
• 25 December Christmas Day
• 26 December Boxing Day

Arts and entertainment

Television

Deaths

• 5 January –
• Ad van Kempen, 81, actor (1-900, n Beetje Verliefd, Winter in Wartime).
• Elsje de Wijn, 82, actress (Frank en Eva, For a Lost Soldier, Baantjer).
• 8 January – Astrid Roemer, 78, author.
• 11 January – Herman Wouters, 85, politician, mayor of Grobbendonk (1989–1997).
• 13 January – Annemarie Prins, 93, actress (Îles flottantes, Code Blue, Accused).
• 15 January – Robert Jensen, 52, television and radio presenter.
• 11 February – Cees Nooteboom, 92, novelist (Rituals, The Following Story, All Souls' Day), poet and journalist.
• 14 February – Tom Van der Bruggen, 80, inventor.
• 20 February – Femke Boersma, 90, actress (Het Wonderlijke leven van Willem Parel, Pastorale 1943).
• 21 February – Koos Postema, 93, radio and television presenter.
• 1 March – Yukkie B, 56, rapper.

See also

• 2026 in the European Union
• 2026 in Europe

References

External links

• Online calendar