2023-07-07 23:42:22
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced, on Friday evening, the resignation of his government following the collapse of the ruling coalition a year and a half ago, due to differences between its staff over the necessary measures to limit immigration.
Rutte (56 years), who is the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the Netherlands, supervised discussions to resolve the crisis between the four partners in the coalition, as of Wednesday, which did not reach its desired goal in light of unresolvable differences.
“This evening, unfortunately, we have come to the conclusion that these differences cannot be overcome. For this reason, I will soon submit a written resignation to the King on behalf of the government as a whole,” Rutte said at a press conference.
Rutte confirmed that he had the “energy” necessary to run for a fifth consecutive term at the head of the government, but stressed the need to “reflect carefully” before taking this step.
“structural solution”
Rutte managed to stay in power for 12 years, despite the scandals. And he formed his fourth coalition, in January 2022, following 271 days of negotiations.
The leader of the liberal-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy wanted to impose restrictions on family reunification for asylum seekers, in the wake of a scandal last year regarding overcrowded immigration centers in the Netherlands.
Rutte demanded that a ceiling be set for the relatives of immigrants from conflict countries that the Netherlands can receive at 200 people per month, and threatened to oust the government if it refused, according to local media.
The prime minister promised a “structural solution” to immigration problems in the wake of the “flawed scenes” recorded last year.
But the Christian Democratic Party, which is part of the coalition, strongly opposed his plan.
The four parties of the coalition, which local media called an “unhappy marriage”, held crisis talks, Wednesday and late Thursday and Friday, in an attempt to save the faltering government.
But the settlement, which has been called the “emergency button”, and requires the adoption of new restrictions only in the event of the arrival of large numbers of immigrants, was not sufficient for the success of the last-minute talks on Friday.
“anxiety”
Many Dutch people gathered outside the coalition meeting venue in the historic center of Amsterdam on Friday, an AFP correspondent reported.
“I’m worried regarding what the next government will be like,” said Marien Filippo, 19, an IT worker.
For his part, Peter Balkenende (32 years old) expressed his hope that the next government would provide “a better performance than the current one, especially in the field of asylum applications.”
And local media suggested that Rutte sought to take a hard stance on immigration issues to absorb pressure from the more right wing of his party.
The prime minister has often found himself under increasing pressure on the issue of immigration given the strength of far-right parties in the Netherlands, including anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders.
It is expected that Rutte, who is the second in Europe in terms of the length of his term in office following the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, will call early elections through which he hopes to obtain support to form his fifth coalition government, since 2010.
However, he may face internal competition once morest the background of the increasing frustration of voters regarding the length of his rule, even in the absence of serious competitors.
With his political acumen, Rutte succeeded in charting his path to the top of the pyramid in the Dutch executive power through four successive coalitions, but he faced a series of problems that almost overthrew his rule.
His previous government was forced to resign, in 2021, once morest the backdrop of a government aid scandal that mainly targeted children of families belonging to ethnic minorities.
In 2017, he was widely criticized for swinging to the right before the elections in an effort to prevent Wilders from winning in a period that witnessed the rise of populist parties following the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States and the referendum on Britain’s exit from the European Union in 2016.
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