THE HAGUE: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is set to tender his resignation to the king on Saturday following the collapse of his coalition government amid a dispute over migration, which has prompted upcoming elections later this year.
King Willem-Alexander returned from his holiday to meet with Rutte, the country’s longest-serving premier who has been in power since 2010.
Rutte, the leader of the centre-right VVD party, announced the government’s fall during a somber press conference on Friday night. He expressed his intention to meet with the king to provide a detailed explanation of the situation. The meeting is scheduled to take place at the royal Huis Ten Bosch palace near The Hague on Saturday at around 1100 GMT. Rutte will lead a caretaker government until the expected mid-November elections.
Collapse of Netherlands’ Government
The issue of migration has become a source of increasing tension in Europe and ultimately led to the disintegration of the Netherlands’ fragile coalition government, Rutte’s fourth. The four coalition parties disagreed on Rutte’s proposal to tighten restrictions on family reunification for asylum seekers, an attempt to reduce numbers following last year’s scandal involving overcrowded migration centers. ChristenUnie, a Christian Democratic party, and the center-left D66 strongly opposed Rutte’s plan.
Dutch newspapers have closely examined the collapse of the unstable coalition, which took office only in January 2022 following a record-breaking 271 days of negotiations. The Volkskrant daily described the cabinet as stumbling from the start and never managing to recover.
The upcoming elections are expected to be highly divisive, featuring a range of contentious issues such as migration, discontent among farmers, and the cost of living. Rutte’s bid for a fifth term faces challenges from various parties, including an upstart farmers’ party that opposes EU-backed environmental regulations and the persistent threat of the far-right. Geert Wilders, the leader of the anti-Islam party, tweeted about making the Netherlands a “beautiful country again” with fewer asylum seekers and crime.
The Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), which won seats in senate elections earlier this year, aims to replicate its success. The party’s leader, Caroline van der Plas, has refused to serve in a coalition with Rutte and has not ruled out running for the position of prime minister.
In addition to external challenges, Rutte faces internal tensions within the VVD. If the farmers’ party performs well enough in the elections to demand a place in the coalition, Rutte’s VVD may consider parting ways with him to maintain its position at the helm of the government. Rutte himself acknowledged tensions within the party regarding migration during a conference in June and stated on Friday that while he still had the “energy” for a fifth term, he needed to carefully consider his decision.
