The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutteannounced this Friday the dimission of the center-right government that he leads from January 2022 due to lack of agreements on asylum policy, which will lead to the call for early elections in the Netherlands, and assured that he should still “think calmly” if he will present himself again.
At a press conference after a extraordinary council of ministers Tonight, Rutte assured that “all the parties have done everything possible to find a solution, but unfortunately the differences in migration are insurmountable” and confirmed that he will present the resignation of the cabinet in writing to the king william alexanderwho is on vacation, but will meet him in person tomorrow because he will be back Hague.
In addition, Rutte assured “he has the energy to continue as leader of the liberal VVD party”, although he has said that he needs “time to think calmly” if he will run again in elections that are expected to be held in autumnaccording to him Electoral Council.
The four centre-right parties have been in disagreement in recent months on how to manage the influx of refugees, but the situation became tense on Wednesday when Rutte put on the table a limit to 200 family members of reunited refugees a month and a two-year waiting period before they can travel to Netherlands, which is a red line for the progressives of D66 and the Christian Union (CU).
However, Rutte stressed at the press conference that the decision to break the government “has been unanimous” and has not been forced by any specific party. “It was no secret that the four parties have different points of view on this issue,” Rutte stressed, assuring that this is “very unfortunate, but it is a political fact.”
The leader of the Christian Union, Miriam Baker, assured that for his party “one of the most important values in the proposals is that children grow up with their parents, so that they can take care of them. As a family party, we defend that and that is how we have evaluated the various proposals.
“We support the prime minister’s intention to submit to the king the resignation of the current cabinet,” Bikker said.
The leader of Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Peter Heerma, fourth partner of the government, described the fall of the cabinet as “very bad news for Netherlands» and criticized Rutte for tensing the discussion this week with his partners, «his attitude was irresponsibly harsh, almost reckless» and it has not helped to better control migration «nor has it united more» the cabinet.
Next Monday there will be a parliamentary debate in response to the fall of the government.
