The Dutch government led by the leader of the country's conservative party, Mark Rutte, fell apart after a term of only a year and a half. The dissolution of the government comes after severe disagreements among the coalition components on the issue of toughening immigration policy to the country.
Rutte, who has been prime minister since 2010, sought to strengthen his party's power at the expense of sovereign right-wing parties. As a result, he wanted to toughen the rules of immigration and asylum policy accepted in the Netherlands in order to reduce immigration to the country, but encountered fierce opposition from the center-left parties that are members of his government. After an emergency meeting on Friday evening, Rutte announced the dissolution of his government. However, the government will continue to serve as an interim government until new elections are held in November.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrives at the palace to hand over the resignation of the government to the king, Photo: AP
The results of the previous general election, held in March 2021, required Rutte to form a broad coalition with four parties, including two center-left parties that opposed tougher immigration policies – the Social Liberal Party Democrats 66 and the Christian Union.
"It is no secret that coalition partners have very different positions on immigration policy," Rutte declared when announcing the dissolution of the government, "and today we regrettably have to draw the conclusion that these differences cannot be bridged. Therefore, we immediately submit the resignation of the government to the king."
The issue of asylum seekers is at the top of the burning issues in the Netherlands. In 2022, there was a one-third increase in the number of asylum applications in the country and the number of applications stood at 47,000. According to estimates, the number of applications this year is expected to climb to 70,000. Rutte's conservative party sought to limit the number of refugees and those eligible for family reunification to just 200 per month, lowering the threshold for eligibility for asylum to 2,400 a year.
In recent polls, a new right-wing populist party, the Farmers' Party, which was founded three years ago and enjoys 27% of the public's support. The second party, with 21% support, is Rutte's conservative party, and the third party is the Freedom Party with 14% public support. According to these polls, the right, in all its diversity, will have a very favorable majority for the establishment of a joint government, which will lead to a toughening of immigration policy rules for the country.
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