2023-07-08 04:57:00
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced on Friday the end of his coalition government, due to disagreements between the four parties over the strategy to stem the flow of refugees entering the country.
The Electoral Commission announced that in mid-November there will be new elections, in which the participation of Rutte, the longest serving Dutch head of government, is uncertain.
“Tonight, we came to the conclusion, unfortunately, that the differences were insurmountable. For this reason, I will present my resignation to the king shortly, on behalf of the entire government”, declared Rutte at a press conference, adding that he has “energy” to fight back. run for the fifth term, but that he needed to reflect on the matter. Later, the government informed that the resignation was presented to the king, who will receive the premier tomorrow, in The Hague.
A member of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD, centre-right), Rutte wanted the other three parties in the governing coalition to establish a quota system to limit the number of children from conflict zones eligible for asylum in the Netherlands.
– Quotas –
Last year, the Dutch government faced a huge scandal over the management of overcrowded refugee reception centres.
Rutte’s proposal was to restrict to 200 per month the number of meetings of children with refugee relatives already established in the Netherlands, and he threatened to dissolve the cabinet if his allies did not approve, according to the Dutch press.
The conservative Christian Union party, which brought Rutte the support of the Protestant electorate in the center of the country, was radically opposed to the proposal, which was also not approved by the center-left D66 party. “The family, and that children grow up with their parents, is a fundamental value for us,” said the minister in charge of combating poverty, Carola Schouten, a member of the Christian Union.
Rutte thus ends his fourth term since October 2010. The last period began in January 2022, with a coalition that took nine months to form after the March 2021 elections.
According to the press, Rutte seeks, with the dissolution of his cabinet, to save energy to fight a battle with a wing of his party that defends a tougher line in terms of migration policy and the reception of refugees.
Since coming to power, Rutte and her right-wing liberal party have had to compete with and resist pressure from a number of fiercely anti-immigration far-right parties.
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