Dutch prime minister resigns after far-right party pulls out of coalition
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof has tendered his resignation and will continue in a caretaker role, setting the stage for a snap election.
Far-right leader Geert Wilders pulled his Freedom Party out of the Dutch government earlier Tuesday over the refusal of his three coalition partners to agree to his plans to curb migration. His demands included closing the border to asylum seekers, temporarily halting family reunification and returning asylum seekers to Syria.
The Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations will take responsibility for finding a date for fresh elections, though that may not come this week, according to a spokesperson for the ministry.
Schoof went to the king to offer his resignation Tuesday.
"In the past days I let all four caucus leaders know several times that the fall of the government would in my opinion be unnecessary and irresponsible,' Schoof told reporters in The Hague. "Nationally and internationally we are facing big challenges, and more than ever do we need reliability.'
King Willem-Alexander requested that Schoof and his ministers "continue to do all that they consider necessary in the interests of the Kingdom,' according to a statement from his office.
Migration has become a leading issue for Dutch voters, fueled by one of Europe's worst housing crises and rising cost of living. In the last election, the Netherlands turned its back on years of a liberal immigration approach as Wilders vowed to implement the "strictest asylum policy ever.'
Dutch bonds remained higher along with their European peers. The spread between the Netherlands' 10-year yield and the equivalent German rate traded at 21 basis points, little changed from Monday.
"We think a caretaker government will avoid controversial topics for up to one year, so the Netherlands will be stable with no impact on the funding need,' Jaap Teerhuis, senior rates strategist at ABN Amro Bank NV, said. "There's no panic whatsoever relating to the political situation in the Netherlands.'
Wilders' party delivered a shock electoral victory in the 2023 parliamentary vote as far-right parties across Europe rose in popularity, partly on promises to cut migration. The Dutch coalition parties, however, refused to name Wilders prime minister, instead tapping former spy chief Schoof, who didn't hold a party affiliation.
Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders speaks with the media on the day of his decision to take his Freedom Party out of the governing coalition in The Hague, Netherlands, on Tuesday. |
REUTERS
The right-wing Cabinet has been plagued by a number of controversies since it was installed in July, which began with Schoof's appointment. He was the first nonpartisan premier since 1918, breaking with a tradition of the leader of the largest party holding the post.
This isn't the first time migration has sunk a Dutch government.
In 2023, the government of the previous prime minister, Mark Rutte, who had been the country's longest-serving leader, collapsed over the same issue. In that instance, the caretaker government was installed for four months before a snap election.
Even though the Freedom Party's support had been declining over the past few months, it regained its position as the strongest political force in a poll this week after Wilders announced his new migration plan. An Ipsos poll in early May translated to 29 seats for Wilders' party, lower than the 37 he has in parliament today.
Wilders' move was immediately criticized by his coalition partners, with Caroline van der Plas from the Farmers Party calling Wilders' decision a "reckless kamikaze action' in a post on social media platform X.
"Geert Wilders does not put NL first, he puts himself first,' she said. Dilan Yesilgoz, another coalition party leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, said Wilders was "not concerned about asylum, not about the interests of the Netherlands and not about his voters.'
The Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers — which represents companies such as ASML Holding and Heineken — said in a statement that the Netherlands urgently needed an "effective and stable cabinet' especially in these times of "great geopolitical tensions.'
Wilders, 61, has been a fixture in Dutch politics for decades. As the longest-serving lawmaker, he has been focused on immigration and Islam.
Initially most mainstream parties — including Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy — ruled out working with him, until last year, after his surprising electoral victory made his party the biggest bloc in parliament.
The Freedom Party "has promised to the voters to enact the strictest asylum policy ever,' Wilders said in a television interview earlier Tuesday. "I had no other choice now than to say we'll withdraw our support for this government — I let the prime minister know that we'll pull our ministers from the cabinet and that we can't bear any further responsibility for this.'
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