Far-right populist MP Geert Wilders has plunged the Netherlands into a political crisis after he withdrew his ministers from the ruling coalition on Tuesday over a dispute over anti-migration measures. The cabinet will continue to govern, but as a caretaker government until early elections are held, the Associated Press reported.
The decision means the Netherlands will host a key NATO summit at the end of the month in The Hague with a caretaker government, BTA reports.
HOW IT GOT HERE
On Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Dick Schoff called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the crisis and then met with King Willem-Alexander to submit the resignations of ministers from Wilders' Party for Freedom (PS).
Schoff, a career civil servant personally selected by Wilders for the post a year ago, said that in the days leading up to the crisis he had repeatedly warned political leaders that toppling the government now was "unnecessary and irresponsible“.
“We are facing major challenges nationally and internationally, and now more than ever in the rapidly changing world we live in, determination is needed to ensure the secure and sustainable development of our country and its economy“, the prime minister said.
There is no date for the election yet, but it is unlikely to be held before the fall.
Schoef's eleven-month rule will be remembered as one of the shortest in the political history of the Netherlands, the Associated Press notes.
Wilders announced his decision on Tuesday in a short message in “Ex“ after a meeting in parliament with the leaders of the four parties in the complex government coalition.
WILDERS ACCUSES PARTNERS OF INACTION ON MIGRATION
Wilders told reporters that he was withdrawing his support for the coalition and withdrawing his ministers because the cabinet had not met his demands for strict measures to reduce immigration.
“I signed up for the strictest migration policy, not for the ruin of the Netherlands“, said the scandalous politician, whose Party for Freedom still leads in opinion polls, but by a negligible margin over the center-left opposition.
The coalition partners rejected the accusations and said that they all want tough measures against migration.
THE PRIME MINISTER CALLED FOR RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR
Dylan Yesilgöz, leader of the right-wing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VPD), said before the meeting that Schoff had called on leaders to act responsibly.
“The Prime Minister called on us this morning to act responsibly, given the enormous challenges the country faces in the context of war in Europe and a possible looming economic crisis,“ she said in the parliamentary lobby.
But just minutes later the meeting ended, and with it Wilders' participation in the government.
“I am shocked,“ said Yesilgöz, adding that the far-right leader's decision was “extremely irresponsible“.
After years in opposition, Wilders' party won the last election on a promise to reduce migration levels. He has recently shown increasing dissatisfaction with what he sees as the government's slow implementation of his plans.
Last week, Wilders demanded that his coalition partners sign a ten-point declaration to sharply reduce the number of arriving migrants, including sending the army to guard the borders and turning back asylum seekers as they enter the country. Back then, he said that if migration policy was not tightened, his party "would leave the government."
On Tuesday, he practically kept his promise.
Wilders' decision came just a day after conservative Karol Nawrocki was declared the winner of Poland's presidential election, meaning that under the new head of state - backed by US leader Donald Trump - Warsaw is set to take a populist and nationalist turn, the Associated Press notes.
This is not the first time Wilders has pulled the rug out from under the government. In 2010, he promised to support former Prime Minister Mark Rutte's minority cabinet, but before the middle of his term, he withdrew his support after a dispute over austerity measures.
“It is well known that when you work with Wilders in a coalition, the government does not have anything good to offer,“ Rob Jetten, leader of the opposition liberal party “Democrats-66“ (D-66), told Dutch television.
COALITION PARTNERS EXPECT UNCERTAIN POLITICAL FUTURE
Caroline van Plas, leader of the Farmers' and Citizens' Movement (BBB), a populist agricultural party, expressed strong dissatisfaction with Wilders' actions.
"He does not put the Netherlands first, but himself," she also told Dutch television.
Nikolin van Vronhoven, leader of the center-right New Social Contract (NSD), which suffered electoral losses after entering the cabinet and the resignation of its charismatic leader Pieter Omtzicht, said the government should continue even without Wilders. "A minority cabinet is definitely an option," she said. But Schoff's declaration that early elections were inevitable put an end to any hopes of continuing the government.
OPPOSITION WELCOMES WILDERS' WITHDRAWAL
Frans Timmermans, the former European Commission vice-president for climate change and now leader of the largest opposition bloc in parliament, expressed satisfaction with Wilders' decision. He added that he would not support a minority government and called for early elections to be held as soon as possible.
„I see in the current situation an opportunity for all democratic parties to free themselves from the extreme elements, because extreme elements cannot govern. "When it gets tough, they just run," Timmermans, who heads the center-left coalition between the Greens and his Labor Party, told The Associated Press.
THE UNOFFICIAL CORDOBA SANITARIA
Dutch media commented that, in addition to Wilders, the leaders of the coalition's mainstream parties, and in particular the leader of the NPD, Jespilgoz, are also to blame for throwing the country into a political crisis.
One of the central publications, the Volkskrant, recalls that under her predecessor at the head of the NPD, Mark Rutte, there was an unofficial cordon sanitaire against Wilders. According to this policy, the Freedom Party was seen as an irresponsible political force that violated the principles of the rule of law, with which no agreements should be made on any occasion.
But Yesilgöz lifted the blockade against the PS in the hope that together with the radical right they would develop a tougher approach against migration. Whether she has now come to the same conclusion as Rutte, Yesilgöz did not want to say, notes the “Volkskrant“. “I am not thinking about it now. I am still very angry and very confused about what happened“, she pointed out.
WHAT COMES NEXT FROM HERE
Schöff is a non-partisan prime minister and was put in a difficult position as soon as he took office, commented the German business publication “Handelsblatt“. His nomination for the post was a condition for the formation of the coalition, as the partners did not want a government led by Wilders in any way.
Subsequently, Wilders constantly publicly criticized Schoff's policies, and a few days ago he already expressed open dissatisfaction that the other parties had not chosen him as prime minister.
Forming governments in the Netherlands is usually a very long process, as the 150-seat parliament is traditionally highly fragmented. There are as many as 15 parties in the current one.
The coalition agreement between Wilders' PS, the conservatives of the NPD, the populist agricultural party BBB and the Christian Democrats of the NOD was aimed at the Netherlands adopting a tougher policy towards migration than that of the government of former Prime Minister Rutte.
Among the examples he wants to follow, Wilders also points to neighboring Germany, whose Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the conservative Christian Social Union wants to return migrants at the border, regardless of whether they intend to apply for asylum.