In the Netherlands, the coalition fell apart over the asylum policy, Prime Minister Rutte speaks of “political reality”. On Saturday he sought a conversation with King Willem-Alexander.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrived at Huis ten Bosch castle near The Hague on Saturday to brief King Willem-Alexander about the break in government. The night before, the four-party coalition had exploded into dispute over migration policy. Rutte had already written to the king on Friday night and offered to resign from the cabinet.
This was preceded by a crisis meeting in which government party leaders failed to reach agreement on an intended tightening of asylum practices. Upon arriving at the royal palace, Rutte was sullen when questioned by reporters. The head of state interrupted his vacation and returned to Holland without prior notice to consult with the Prime Minister.
elections in november
Until now, Rutte has left it open whether he will run again in a new election. According to observers, that probably won’t happen until November. Rutte had announced that he wanted to remain in office until then and continue to handle upcoming tasks, including supporting Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression. He still has the “energy” to present himself as the main candidate for his centre-right VVD party in the new elections, but he needs to “think about it” first.
Tensions within the ruling coalition rose, according to media reports, after Rutte’s VVD proposed stricter rules for asylum seekers and threatened to leave cabinet if those measures were not approved. Among other things, Rutte called for family reunification of refugees to be made more difficult. Days of crisis talks between coalition partners have not led to a deal, Rutte said late on Friday.
The Christian Democratic party Christen Unie declared that it “could not live with Rutte’s proposal”. Christen-Unie policy and Deputy Prime Minister Carola Schouten said it is a “core value” for her party that “children grow up with their parents”.
Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag’s center-left D66 party also rejected Rutte’s call for three-day crisis talks. Kaag described the government’s downfall as “regrettable” and tensions within the coalition as “unnecessary”. Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra of the coalition’s fourth partner, the Christian Democrat CDA, called the dissolution of the coalition “very disappointing” and “inexplicable for the people”.
The Dutch government has been at loggerheads on the issue since it took office a year and a half ago. A scandal erupted last year when a baby died in an overcrowded asylum center and hundreds of people had to sleep outside. Rutte’s previous government resigned in 2021 following a child support scandal.
Peasant-bourgeois movement on the rise
The next election campaign should be heated. The citizen farmers movement (BBB), which was born just four years ago and gained strength from protests against EU-backed climate protection plans, also wants to win the national parliamentary elections after a clear electoral success in the provincial elections of March. Pressure from the BBB may also have contributed to the government’s downfall from the Dutch media: Rutte wanted to get tough on asylum policy to distinguish himself from the right wing of his VVD party – as the BBB is now also trying to woo the disappointed VVD voters .
Like other European countries, the Netherlands is struggling with the question of how to deal with the large number of immigrants. According to earlier media reports, Rutte was prepared to let the government fail if necessary. Asylum claims in the Netherlands rose by a third to over 46,000 last year and are expected to rise to over 70,000 this year – a new record since 2015.
After numerous crises, the numbers in the coalition’s polls have dropped sharply. In the last provincial elections in March, in which the first chamber of parliament was elected – comparable to the Federal Council -, all government parties recorded significant losses. The big winner of the election was the right-wing populist peasant movement BBB, which became the strongest force immediately. The BBB is represented by only one deputy in the Chamber of Deputies. Great success is predicted for the party in a new election. (APA)