Dutch government collapses as ministers clash over refugee policy

The Dutch coalition government led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte has collapsed after his cabinet failed to reach consensus over the country's refugee policy.

Ministers from four political parties clashed on Friday over Rutte's plans to tighten restrictions on family reunification of asylum seekers, an attempt to limit their numbers after last year's scandal over overcrowded immigration centers.

Rutte, the leader of the center-right VVD party and the country's longest-serving prime minister, told a press conference after days of crisis talks broke down that the coalition partners had very different views on immigration policy and failed to reach a consensus.

“Migration is a major political and social issue,” Rutte said. “Now that we have been unable to find agreement on this, we have collectively assessed that the political support under the coalition has disappeared.”

The government later confirmed that he had tendered his resignation and would visit King Willem-Alexander on Saturday.

The coalition was Rutte's fourth since he took office in 2010. The current coalition, however, only took office in January 2022, after a record 271 days of negotiations, and was strongly divided on many issues.

Meanwhile, the Dutch Electoral Commission said the earliest possible date to hold the next election would be in mid-November. Rutte said he would lead an interim government until then.

The sudden collapse sparked bitter recriminations between the four parties in the one-and-a-half-year-old coalition dubbed "Rutte IV".

ChristenUnie - a Christian Democratic party that draws its main support from the staunchly Protestant "Bible Belt" in central Netherlands - and the center-left D66 had opposed Rutte's plan.

He reportedly demanded that the number of relatives of war refugees allowed to enter the Netherlands be limited to 200 per month.

Rutte has promised to crack down on immigration after last summer's refugee centers scandal, in which a baby died and hundreds were forced to sleep outdoors.

"The family, that children grow up with their parents, is a core value for us," Deputy Prime Minister Carola Schouten claimed, adding it was "a very difficult moment."

Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag of D66 said there was "unnecessary tension in the process" and the collapse was unfortunate.

Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra of the center-right Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party said the collapse of the government was "very disappointing, unnecessary and inexplicable" for the people of the country.

SS