On the 8th of July, the four-party coalition government collapsed in the Netherlands when the longest-serving Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced his resignation. Later, he met King Willem-Alexander in The Hague and submitted the resignation of the entire cabinet to the King.
With this, the Dutch government became the victim of the migrant debate, the issue that is currently burning Europe, because the govt fell over disagreements among coalition partners on the migration policy.
The coalition was formed by four parties, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of Rutte, the liberal democratic party Democrats 66, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the centrist party ChristenUnie. The parties had major differences over a new migration policy brought by the govt, resulting in its collapse.
The outgoing PM Rutte agreed to lead a caretaker government until fresh elections are conducted which are expected to be held in mid-November. Mark Rutte also addressed the media and issued an official statement regarding his decision. Rutte said that the differing views of his alliance partners on migration policy were “irreconcilable”.
He said, “It is no secret that the coalition partners have very different views on migration policy. And today we unfortunately have to conclude that those differences are irreconcilable. That is why I have offered the resignation of the entire cabinet to the King.”
Het is geen geheim dat de coalitiepartners heel verschillend denken over het migratiebeleid. En vandaag moeten we helaas de conclusie trekken dat die verschillen onoverbrugbaar zijn. Daarom heb ik het ontslag van het voltallige kabinet aangeboden aan de Koning.
— Mark Rutte (@MinPres) July 7, 2023
Volledig… pic.twitter.com/iIbxtichRh
Earlier, on the 5th and 6th of July, Rutte held emergency meetings to forge a deal among his alliance partners on the migration issue. However, on the 7th of July, Friday evening, the parties unanimously decided that they could not iron out their ideological differences and subsequently announced that they could not remain together in coalition.
The four-party coalition government split on Migration policy
The four-party coalition was running the government for the past 18 months but the bitter differences in migration policy led to the collapse of the alliance government.
Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s VVD party and one of their alliance partner CDA wanted tougher measures in the immigration policy while the centre-left D66 and Christian Union parties were strongly against this move.
According to Euronews, VVD leader and longest-serving Dutch PM Rutte had been holding negotiations for the past few months. He wanted to come up with a package of measures to reduce the flow of new migrants arriving in The Netherlands, a country with a total population of around 18 million.
As per media reports, Rutte’s proposals included creating two classes of asylum. One would have been a temporary one for all those people who are fleeing from conflicts. While the second class would have been a permanent one. It would be for those people who are escaping persecution.
Furthermore, Rutte also made plans to reduce the number of family members that would be allowed to join asylum seekers in the Netherlands. VVD and CDA demanded that the number of children of refugees already present in the Netherlands allowed to be limited and make them wait two years before they can reunite with their families. The PM wanted to implement a monthly cap of 200 relatives of war refugees permitted to enter the Netherlands.
However, his alliance partners, Democrats 66 and the Christian Union party were strongly against the idea of separating family members.
Forum for Democracy (VVD) party, which is led by Rutte, wanted to limit the entrance for children of war refugees who are already present in the country. The party also wanted to make families wait for at least two years before they can be reunited.
Rutte’s then-coalition partner, Pieter Heerma, the leader of the Christian Democrats, claimed that the approach of the outgoing PM in the discussions was “almost reckless.”
While no single party was blamed and it was that the govt fell because of broad disagreements, it has been alleged that Rutte’s insistence on keeping children of refugees separated was a major issue. It is also alleged that the PM’s own party had put lots of pressure on him to be harder on asylum seekers, in exchange for supporting a bill to evenly distribute migrants among all municipalities, which led him to decide to take the decision of resigning.
Opposition was already demanding fresh polls
While the government fell due to proposed measures to curb migration, the govt is actually accused of being pro-migration by opposition parties and a large section of citizens.
Earlier, the opposition lawmakers called for fresh elections even before the outgoing PM formally announced his resignation. The leader of the anti-immigration Party for Freedom Geert Wilders took to Twitter to demand quick elections in the country. He claimed 75% of people in the Netherlands don’t want Rutte to remain in power.
Nederland is helemaal klaar met Rutte.
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) July 9, 2023
75% van de Nederlanders wil dat hij nooit meer terugkomt.
Hij moet meteen opstappen.
Ik zal de Kamer morgen voorstellen hem direct weg te sturen.
He added, “We are the party that can ensure a majority to significantly restrict the flow of asylum seekers.” He tweeted that with fewer migrants and less crime, they can make the country beautiful again and there will more money and houses for local people, with better facilities and more areas for farmers and fishermen.
Previously, Wilders supported Rutte’s first minority coalition 13 years ago, however, he is also accused of bringing it down.
Caroline van der Plas, head of the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement party, tweeted that its flags were already hanging out.
De vlaggen worden as we speak weer in top gehangen. #crisisoverleg #Kabinet pic.twitter.com/R6qG0Yoed5
— Caroline van der Plas (@lientje1967) July 7, 2023
The Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) party was formed in 2019 and the party won the higher number of seats in all 12 Dutch provinces in the regional elections held in March this year. The massively surprising victory showed the growing anger against the liberal migration policy among Dutch voters. The party has been demanding a cap of 50 to 200 asylum seekers per city council or regional authority.
Apart from the migration policy, Dutch farmers are also protesting against the European green laws, as it is feared that it will cause the shutting down of a large number of farms. In March, farmers drove their tractors to Hauge to protest against the EU green laws. Protests grew after the EU approved $1.61 billion for a Dutch govt plan to buy out farmers with the objective of shutting down farms to reduce nitrogen pollution.
The talks between farmers and the government over the issue collapsed last month after the main farmers’ organisation LTO left the negotiating table. The situation became tougher for the government after the pro-farmer party Farmer–Citizen Movement became the largest party in the upper house of the parliament, and govt does not have majority support.
Caroline van der Plas said that her party is ready for election after the govt collapse. Opinion polls show that BBB can become the largest Dutch party with Rutte’s VVD. The BBB leader said she is open for an alliance with VVD, but only if Rutte is not leading it. Her party blames the outgoing PM for the measures against farmers over nitrogen pollution.
Rutte was under immense pressure on migration because of the rise of far-right parties such as Geert Wilders’ PVV and Farmer–Citizen Movement, while his liberal coalition partners wanted migration to continue.
The demand for holding fresh elections was seen across the political spectrum. Speaking with Dutch broadcaster NOS, Green Left leader Jesse Klaver said, “This country needs a change of direction.”
As the elections will be held in November, Mark Rutte remains in power as caretaker govt till then and can take some decisions.
Migration in The Netherlands
According to the statistics of the Dutch government, the number of people applying for asylum in the Netherlands jumped by a third last year to around 46,000. Now, it is expected to increase to more than 70,000 this year which will cross the previous high registered in 2015.
According to the BBC, this week, Rutte tried to forcefully implement a plan which would have capped the number of relatives of war refugees allowed into the Netherlands at just 200 people per month.
Now, the issue of migration is likely to dominate campaigning for the upcoming elections.
The timing of this drift by Dutch PM Rutte himself is important. As per media reports, his decision comes just months after the Farmers Citizens Movement displaced Rutte’s VVD party to second place during provincial elections held earlier this year.
The Farmers Citizens Movement is a new, populist pro-farmer party, and it is known by its Dutch acronym BBB. The party is already the largest bloc in the Dutch Senate and is claimed as a serious threat to Rutte’s VVD.
As per the Telegraph, the BBB also demanded a refugee cap as its popularity was soaring among the Dutch public. On the 29th of June 2023, it was reported that BBB leader Caroline Van der Plas said the Dutch government needed to look at ‘how many genuine asylum seekers the Netherlands can reasonably cope with’.
The country’s longest-serving prime minister Rutte (56) has been in office since 2010. The current government assumed office in January 2022 which was his fourth coalition government. On the issue of contesting again, Rutte has claimed that he has energy for the fifth term as well.
However, Rutte’s tough measure on immigration is not just limited to his own country. The Dutch Prime Minister also promoted the European Union’s efforts to slow migration to the 27-nation bloc.
