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Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dutch government collapses as far-right leader pulls party out of coalition
The Dutch government has collapsed after the far-right leader Geert Wilders pulled his party out of the ruling coalition in a row over immigration and asylum policy. The prime minister, Dick Schoof, on Tuesday handed in his resignation and that of his 11-month-old cabinet to King Willem-Alexander. Remaining ministers will stay on in a caretaker capacity until new elections, most likely in October. 'We have decided that there is now insufficient support for this government,' Schoof told reporters in The Hague after an emergency cabinet meeting, adding that he considered Wilders's decision 'irresponsible and unnecessary'. Wilders, whose populist, anti-Islam Freedom party (PVV) finished as the largest in parliament in the last election, said he would 'fight the coming elections to make the PVV even stronger' and 'with the aim of becoming prime minister next time'. The far-right leader had said earlier on Tuesday that all his party's ministers would quit the government after the other three partners in the four-party coalition had rejected his radical proposals on immigration. 'I signed up for the toughest asylum policy, not the downfall of the Netherlands,' he said. He had warned last week that if his plans were not adopted, the PVV – the largest party in parliament, with 37 seats – would be 'out of the cabinet'. Wilders' announcement followed a brief meeting of the already fractious and fragile coalition – the first to include the PVV – which consistently struggled to reach a consensus after being sworn in last July. The coalition between the PVV, the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), centrist New Social Contract (NSC) and liberal-conservative VVD took nearly six months to form and was repeatedly undermined by Wilders, who was not a cabinet member. He wanted it to adopt a 10-point plan aimed at radically reducing immigration and asylum, including enlisting the army to secure and patrol the borders, turning all asylum seekers back at the border and closing refugee accommodation facilities. Wilders also proposed sending all Syrian refugees home, suspending EU asylum quotas and banning family members joining refugees already in the country. Legal experts have said several of the proposals breached European human rights laws or the UN refugee convention, to which the Netherlands is a signatory. Remaining coalition partners reacted with anger and disbelief to Wilders's decision. Dilan Yeşilgöz, the VVD leader, said Schoof had appealed to the four party leaders to act responsibly before Tuesday's meeting. 'He said we are facing enormous international challenges, we have a war on our continent, an economic crisis may be coming our way,' Yeşilgöz said, adding that she was 'shocked' by Wilders's decision, which she called 'super-irresponsible'. Yeşilgöz added of the far-right leader: 'We had a rightwing majority and he lets it all go, for his ego. He's just doing what he wants … This is making us look like fools. He's running away, at a time of unprecedented uncertainty.' Caroline van der Plas of the BBB said she was extremely angry, adding: 'He is not putting the Netherlands first, he is putting Geert Wilders first.' Nicolien van Vroonhoven of the NSC said the move was 'incredible and incomprehensible'. The remaining coalition members could in theory have tried to stay on as a minority administration, but most favoured snap elections. 'The country needs clarity and a strong government,' Yeşilgöz said. 'Elections must be held soon.' Frans Timmermans, the leader of the main opposition Labour/Green alliance, also said fresh elections were the only serious option. 'I see no other way to form a stable government,' Timmermans, a former European Commission vice-president, said. Recent polls show the PVV has lost significant voter support since its shock election win in November 2023. The party is polling at about 20%, roughly level with the Labour/Green alliance that is currently the second-largest in parliament. It is not the first time that Wilders – a polemicist who has spent years in opposition, has a conviction for discrimination and managed to strike a coalition deal only after abandoning his effort to become prime minister – has turned his back on power. In 2010 he pledged support to a minority government led by the former prime minister Mark Rutte, but walked away from the confidence and supply arrangement less than two years later after a dispute over government austerity measures. 'You know that if you work with Wilders in a coalition … it won't go well,' Rob Jetten, the leader of the opposition liberal D66 party, told the public broadcaster NOS. 'If it hadn't happened today, it would have happened sometime in the next few weeks.' Jetten said the government had been unable to take many decisions because it was prey to too many 'rows and crises', adding that the other three coalition parties had been taken 'hostage' by Wilders.
Qatar Tribune
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Dutch king accepts government's resignation after Wilders withdrawal
The HAGUEcTypeface:> Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Dick Schoof, while asking him to remain in office in a caretaker capacity. 'After all, life goes on in the Netherlands and abroad, and decisions have to be taken that cannot be postponed,' Schoof told parliament in The Hague. The collapse of the unwieldy four-party coalition came after right-wing populist Geert Wilders withdrew his members from the Cabinet in a conflict over migration. Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) formed the largest group in parliament after the party emerged victorious in the November 2023 elections. But PVV ministers and state secretaries have now withdrawn from Schoof's cabinet. Wilders' move came in for strong criticism in parliament from the coalition parties and from the opposition. (DPA)
New European
a day ago
- Business
- New European
Geert Wilders: the fall of an extremist
Wilders has long been at odds with the government that he helped form, after his party, the PVV, won elections in 2023. On several occasions he clashed publicly and spectacularly with Dick Schoof, the non-party-aligned prime minister. And last week he presented the cabinet with a list of demands on asylum that even anti-immigration media outlets thought were unrealistic. The bizarre, 11-month-long sock puppet show that called itself the government of the Netherlands has come to an end, thanks to the puppet master himself. Geert Wilders, the 62-year-old, far-right anti-Islam Dutch leader, has pulled his party out of the ruling coalition, saying he now wants to be prime minister himself. But with elections scheduled for the autumn, he could end up frozen out of power. Schoof, now caretaker prime minister, labelled Wilders's withdrawal from the coalition 'unnecessary and irresponsible' during a debate in parliament on Wednesday. While the outgoing prime minister is unlikely to play a role in the upcoming campaign, his remarks signal a line of attack on Wilders that the other parties have already taken up. This is now the second time that Wilders has brought down a government dominated by the right, the type of government he has always said he wanted for the Netherlands. Former prime minister Mark Rutte called Wilders a 'quitter politician' in 2012, after the far-right frontman withdrew support for the minority government he was leading at the time. In the subsequent elections, the PVV paid a heavy price, and the party was left out in the cold for over a decade. The other parties are bound to highlight Wilders's apparent unreliability to end his dream of leading the country – for good this time. The fractious coalition between the PVV and three more centrist right-wing parties managed to last for almost a year, but the end was never far away. Three of the four parties, the PVV, the farmers' party BBB, and a largely Christian Democrat offshoot, NSC, had no previous government experience, and neither did Schoof. From the start, negotiators were hit by ethics scandals, as were ministerial candidates. Trust and approval ratings among the electorate were low almost from the start. In contrast to some other right-wing European leaders, such as Giorgia Meloni in Italy and lately Bart de Wever in Belgium, the PVV-led coalition was never able to project competence, or stability. Rumours abounded in The Hague about the inefficient and unprofessional ways in which ministers ran their departments. Suggested Reading The right spells trouble for von der Leyen Ferry Biedermann Beside inexperience, the root cause of public disenchantment, and falling PVV polling numbers, might well have been the string of unrealistic promises the party made. In quitting the coalition, Wilders made much of the government's inability to fulfil his election promise of an 'emergency law' to limit asylum seekers. Instead, the government worked on a 'fast-track' law that complied with Dutch and EU rules. On other key issues, such as easing the increasingly onerous nitrogen requirements for Dutch farmers, the coalition saw its approach blocked by the courts that forced it to stick to European targets. On broadly supported socio-economic initiatives, such as free childcare, the coalition ran into logistical and budgetary constraints. In the end, Wilders was unable to make the transition from firebrand opposition leader to responsible statesman. He did, as demanded by his coalition partners, damp down his anti-Islam rhetoric while the PVV was in power. Wilders has been living under police protection and in safe houses since 2004, after receiving death threats following some of his remarks on Islam. Asked during the parliamentary debate on the fall of the coalition whether he would now resume his diatribes against Islam, he said it had not been foremost on his mind. The question is whether Wilders will continue in his more moderate guise, in order to maintain his viability as a future coalition partner. But this seems unlikely and unnecessary. His current coalition partners had no issue doing business with him after the previous campaign, in which he was clear about wanting 'less Islam' in the Netherlands. And voters rewarded him by making the PVV the largest party. Despite the decline in the polls, there is no reason why he shouldn't be able to repeat that feat in the upcoming elections. While many might blame him for bringing down the most right-wing government since the end of the Second World War, his base might applaud him for putting a clearly outmatched team out of its misery. Still, other movements in the polls, particularly the revival of the Christian Democrats, could mean he'll be left without coalition partners. While Wilders could triumph once again, his path to power might well be blocked.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Dutch king accepts government's resignation after Wilders withdrawal
Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Dick Schoof, while asking him to remain in office in a caretaker capacity. "After all, life goes on in the Netherlands and abroad, and decisions have to be taken that cannot be postponed," Schoof told parliament in The Hague. The collapse of the unwieldy four-party coalition came after right-wing populist Geert Wilders withdrew his members from the Cabinet in a conflict over migration. Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) formed the largest group in parliament after the party emerged victorious in the November 2023 elections. But PVV ministers and state secretaries have now withdrawn from Schoof's cabinet. Wilders' move came in for strong criticism in parliament from the coalition parties and from the opposition. "In my view, the fall of this government was unnecessary and irresponsible," Schoof, an independent, said. "We face large challenges nationally and internationally, and more than ever, decisiveness is required," he added. He said he would continue to conduct government business with the remaining three parties until fresh elections, which are expected in October or November. A date is likely to be set on Thursday. For his part, Wilders accused his former coalition partners of blocking his migration policies. "We want a complete halt to asylum, We want intensive border controls. We want every – truly every – asylum seeker to be turned back at the border," he said. "And that has to happen immediately," Wilders added. He said his party no longer wished to bear responsibility for what he described as "the demise of the Netherlands."
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Dutch government has collapsed. What happens next?
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch opposition parties called Wednesday for fresh elections as soon as possible, a day after anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders sparked the collapse of the country's four-party coalition government. Prime Minister Dick Schoof's 11-month-old administration fell apart when Wilders withdrew his Party for Freedom ministers. Schoof and the ministers of three remaining parties remain in power as a caretaker Cabinet. The government, with limited powers, now has to lead the country for months before new elections and during what could — again — be protracted talks to cobble together a new coalition in the fragmented Dutch political landscape after the vote. Lawmakers can declare some policy areas 'controversial' during the caretaker period. That restricts the government from taking concrete action on those issues. What happens now? The Dutch electoral commission will schedule a general election for all 150 seats in the Second Chamber of parliament. It is very unlikely to happen before the fall because of a parliamentary recess that starts July 4 and runs to Sept. 1 and that will be followed by several weeks of campaigning. What does Schoof want? In a statement to lawmakers, Schoof said he wants to keep control, even in caretaker mode, of vital policies over the coming months. 'As far as I'm concerned, it's about security, both nationally and internationally, including support for Ukraine and everything that's needed for defense," he said. He also wants to be able to act on the economy, including the global trade war unleashed since the start of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term, "because that can have a direct effect on the Dutch economy and on our business community.' But Schoof acknowledged that some other policies will be put on ice until there is a new coalition. 'The last thing we want now is postponement, but it is unavoidable in some cases,' he said. What do opposition lawmakers want? They want to go to the polls. 'I hope we can organize elections as quickly as possible, in the shortest possible time,' said Frans Timmermans, the former European Commissioner who now leads a two-party, center-left bloc. Timmerman's bloc of the Labor Party and Green Left is challenging Wilders' party for top spot in Dutch polls. Wilders won the last elections in November 2023. Lawmakers used Wednesday's debate to attack Wilders for failing to make good while in office on his 2023 election pledges — in what sounded like a proxy electoral debate. 'You turned your back on these people,' Jimmy Dijk of the Socialist Party said, suggesting that Wilders apologize to his voters. And it's not just the opposition that wants elections. Wilders also is looking forward to campaigning. 'Let's go back to the voter,' he said. What about the NATO summit and support for Ukraine? The government remains committed to hosting the meeting of government leaders from the NATO alliance in The Hague later this month. Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp took to X soon after the administration's collapse to stress that the meeting will go ahead despite the political turmoil. 'We remain fully committed to organising the #NATOsummit in The Hague. We look forward to welcoming all NATO Allies on 24 June,' he wrote. He also said the Netherlands will continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression. The Netherlands has provided key arms to Kyiv, including F-16 fighter jets. 'We remain committed to European cooperation and security. Dutch support for Ukraine is a key part of that,' he wrote. Mike Corder, The Associated Press
