The tenuous ruling coalition could not agree on how to handle asylum seekers and refugees.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte tendered his resignation to the king on Friday after the ruling four-party coalition failed to reach an agreement on immigration policy. The interim cabinet will hold office until a new general election.
“Migration is an important political and social issue”, Rutte told reporters in The Hague on Friday night. “Now that we have not been able to reach an agreement on this, we have collectively assessed that the political support under the coalition has disappeared.”
The four members of the coalition have “very different points of view on immigration policy”, added. “And today, unfortunately, we have to draw the conclusion that those differences are irreconcilable.”
King Willem-Alexander has been notified of the government’s resignation. Rutte will remain as caretaker prime minister until a new general election, likely to take place in November.
The main bone of contention at Friday’s coalition meeting was a proposal to limit the number of refugees and asylum seekers in the country of 18 million already facing a housing shortage. Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democrats wanted to limit the number of relatives who could follow asylum seekers already in the country to 200 per year, and create a separate category for asylum seekers. war refugees and those fleeing political persecution. The other two partners, D66 and Christian Union, opposed “breaking families”.
The Netherlands received 46,000 asylum applications in 2022, and the government projects it could receive up to 70,000 this year, more than the previous high recorded in 2015. The country has also received some 95,000 Ukrainians under “temporary protection” until March 2025.
Rutte has been prime minister since October 2010, serving as part of four different ruling coalitions. The most recent was put together in January 2022, after the longest negotiations in Dutch political history. The four-party bloc ended with just 77 seats in the 150-member parliament.
“Snap Elections Now” Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, tweeted after Rutte’s announcement. Green Left leader Jesse Klaver has also called for a new parliament, telling public broadcaster NOS that the country “He needs a change of direction.”
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