2023-07-07 19:25:12
According to a media report, the Dutch government coalition broke up in a dispute over asylum policy. The ANP news agency reported the development late Friday evening. In the past few days, there had been a dispute in the four-party coalition over a move by Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD party on the subject. The influx of asylum seekers should be limited.
Rutte’s office announced an emergency cabinet meeting but did not confirm the end of the coalition. Like other European countries, the Netherlands is grappling with the question of how to deal with the large number of immigrants. The Prime Minister’s centre-right VVD party had proposed tough rules for asylum seekers and threatened to leave the cabinet if the measures proposed by Rutte were not passed. Specifically, Rutte calls for making family reunification more difficult for war refugees.
However, two junior parties refused to support this. The Christian Democratic party Christen Unie had said it “mightn’t live with Rutte’s proposal,” and Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag’s center-left D66 party reportedly rejected the request. New elections should now be scheduled.
The Dutch government has been at odds on the issue since it took office a year and a half ago. A scandal erupted last year when a baby died in a crowded migration center. Rutte’s previous government resigned in 2021 following a child benefit scandal.
According to earlier media reports, Rutte was prepared in the current case to let the government fail if necessary. Asylum applications in the Netherlands rose by a third to over 46,000 last year and are expected to rise to more than 70,000 this year – a new high since 2015.
This is likely to place a significant burden on the country’s asylum facilities. For months in the past year, hundreds of refugees have been forced to sleep outdoors with little or no access to drinking water, sanitation or health care. Rutte had announced that he wanted to improve the conditions in the facilities by reducing the number of refugees.
Subtitle: The Dutch government had struggled with a more restrictive migration policy in several attempts. After a crisis meeting, the bang is over: the government has collapsed. =
The Hague (dpa) – The Dutch government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte has collapsed in the dispute over migration policy. The leaders of the four governing parties might not agree on Friday evening on steps to limit the influx of refugees, the ANP news agency reported, citing government circles.
The sticking point at the crisis meeting was a restriction on the family reunification of refugees who are already in the Netherlands and which Rutte’s right-wing liberal party VVD had demanded. These demands went too far for the other parties. Apparently, the initiative to dismiss the government came from the conservative ChristenUnie. After an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers in the evening, the prime minister wanted to provide information on the situation.
Mark Rutte (56) has been Prime Minister of the Netherlands for almost 13 years, making him one of the longest-serving heads of government in the EU. Since January 2022, he has led his fourth cabinet following coalition negotiations that lasted a good nine months, making them the longest in the country’s history. A total of four parties were needed to achieve a majority in the second chamber of parliament: Rutte’s right-wing liberal VVD, the left-liberal D66, the Christian Democratic CDA and the small Christian Union.
After numerous crises, the coalition’s poll numbers 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.
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