The divorce is consummated. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s coalition government fell on Friday after heated negotiations between the four ruling parties over refugee policy.
Rutte, the longest serving Prime Minister in the history of the Netherlands, had been holding talks with his partners for several days, but they failed to seal an agreement together. New parliamentary elections must be called and the Dutch are expected to be called to the polls in November, national media report.
“Tonight we unfortunately have to draw the conclusion that the differences are insurmountable,” Rutte said during an extraordinary press conference in The Hague. “For this reason, I will present my written resignation to the king very soon, on behalf of the entire government,” continued the leader of the liberal right-wing VVD party. Rutte added that he still has “the energy” to present himself as the head of his party’s list in the legislative elections in order to aim for a fifth term, but that he first had to “think about it”.
‘Not a happy marriage’
Nicknamed “Teflon” for his ability to stay in power for 12 years despite scandals, Rutte took the reins of his fourth coalition in January 2022 after a record 271 days of negotiations. But the head of government had in recent days caused trouble among his partners on the right and in the center, by demanding that they adopt a series of divisive measures around the reception of asylum seekers.
The coalition, which according to the Dutch press was not a “happy marriage”, faced a major scandal last year linked to its management of the overcrowded refugee reception centres, in particular the center of registration of asylum seekers from Ter Apel in front of which hundreds of people were forced to sleep outside and where a baby died, although the exact cause of his death has not yet been determined.
In response, the Dutch Prime Minister had promised a “structural solution” to the problem after what he described as “shameful scenes” in centers for asylum seekers.
Quota for the number of refugee children
Mark Rutte demanded that the three other parties in the ruling coalition, the Christian Democrats of the CDA, the centrist liberals of the D66 and the small Protestant party ChristenUnie, agree to establish a quota for the number of children from areas conflicts who can obtain asylum in the Netherlands.
Refugees already established in the Netherlands will no longer be allowed to be joined there by their children if a monthly quota of 200 children has already been reached, he also asked. But two more flexible parties on immigration, the ChristenUnie and the D66, are opposed to this project.
The ChristenUnie, a large part of whose voters are in the “Bijbelgordel”, the Belt of the Bible, a conservative area of the country, is because of its religious convictions traditionally opposed to a hardening of the policy of reception of asylum seekers. ‘asylum.
Since the start of his first term in 2010, Rutte and his liberal right-wing party have had to face competition and pressure from several far-right parties, in particular the PVV of Geert Wilders, who are fiercely opposed to immigration. .
With the calling of legislative elections, the race for parliamentary seats promises to be tough for the parties of the outgoing government, while a new pro-farmer formation opposed to European Union environmental regulations won the most seats in the regional elections in March, which also determine the composition of the Senate.