The four ruling parties failed to agree on policies to take in refugees, leading to the overthrow of the government, according to national media.
The coalition government of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has collapsed after heated negotiations between the four ruling parties over refugee policy, national media reported on Friday.
“The government has not reached an agreement on the measures to be taken to limit the influx of asylum seekers. This will be reported in The Hague,” writes Dutch public radio and television on its website. OUR. “This is the end of the Rutte IV government,” she adds.
Mr Rutte, nicknamed “Teflon” for his ability to remain in power for 12 years despite scandals, becoming the longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history, took the reins in January 2022 after a record 271 trading days taken over by his fourth coalition.
But the head of government of the right-wing liberal VVD party had caused trouble among his right-wing and center partners in the past few days by demanding a series of divisive measures relating to the admission of asylum seekers.
Mark Rutte called for the three other parties in the governing coalition, the Christian Democrats of the CDA, the centrist Liberals of the D66 and the small Protestant party ChristenUnie, to agree to set a quota for the number of children from conflict zones who can be granted asylum in the Netherlands.
He also demanded that refugees already living in the Netherlands should no longer be allowed to move there with their children if a monthly quota of 200 children had already been reached.
But two more flexible immigration parties, ChristenUnie and D66, oppose the project.