After a dispute about asylum policy
Dutch Prime Minister Rutte resigns
7/7/2023 11:01 p.m
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte draws conclusions from the dispute over asylum policy. After the four governing parties could not agree on the issue of migration, he announced the resignation of his government. The positions on migration in the four-party coalition are “implacable”.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has announced the resignation of his government. The positions on migration in the four-party coalition are “implacable,” Rutte told journalists. He will therefore shortly submit the resignation of his entire cabinet to King Willem-Alexander in writing.
According to media reports, the centre-right VVD party of the longtime prime minister had proposed strict rules for asylum seekers and threatened to leave the cabinet if these measures were not passed. Rutte had called for the family reunification of refugees to be made more difficult.
The Christian Democratic party Christen Unie had said it “couldn’t live with Rutte’s proposal,” and Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag’s center-left D66 party reportedly rejected the demand for three-day crisis talks.
The Dutch government has been at odds on the issue since it took office a year and a half ago. A scandal broke out last year when a baby died in an overcrowded asylum center and hundreds of people had to sleep outdoors.
Rutte’s previous government resigned in 2021 after a child benefit scandal. The 56-year-old has been head of government since 2010, making him the longest-serving prime minister in the Netherlands. After numerous crises, the poll numbers of his current coalition had fallen sharply.
In the most recent provincial elections in March, in which the first chamber of parliament – comparable to the Federal Council – was elected, all governing parties posted significant losses. The big election winner was the right-wing populist peasant movement BBB, which became the strongest force right away. The BBB is only represented by one deputy in the Lower House. Great success is predicted for the party in a new election.