The government of the Netherlands led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte has resigned. This was announced by the head of the Dutch cabinet himself at a press conference on Friday. According to him, “the resignation of the government will be submitted to the King” in the near future. The break-up of the ruling coalition is linked to disagreements over migration policy, Rutte added.
“This is an extremely disappointing political reality,” the prime minister stated.
The next step will be to hold new parliamentary elections. A new governing coalition must be formed based on the results of these elections. Until that happens, the current government will continue to serve in a caretaker capacity. This government, Rutte said, will continue to support Ukraine.
Earlier, the Dutch Broadcasting Corporation cited sources as saying that the parties in the Dutch ruling coalition failed to reach agreements on reducing the flow of refugees. The People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, whose leader is Rutte, has pushed for some measures, such as the possibility of suspending applications from family members of refugees fleeing the war in case of a critical situation in the asylum chain. However, the Christian Union party said it could not agree to restrictions on people’s rights to family reunification. Another coalition party, the Democrats-66, also did not support the idea.
King Willem-Alexander is on holiday. It remains unclear whether he will return to The Hague to receive his resignation in person, or whether it will be done in some other form.
The current governing coalition in the Netherlands was formed in early 2022 after negotiations that lasted 299 days and were the longest in history. As some observers have pointed out, Rutte has deliberately taken a confrontational course in this case.
“This marriage was never a happy one. The cabinet was formed after extremely lengthy negotiations, and only the conflict in Ukraine prevented it from breaking up early,” noted NTC columnist Xander van der Wolpe.
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