Dutch Coalition Collapses After Rightist Quits Bloc

 

"The Dutch governing coalition collapsed Tuesday after far-right politician Geert Wilders pulled out of the ruling bloc, accusing the other parties of not doing enough to curb immigration.

 

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said hours later that he would resign, setting the stage for a snap election that will test whether Wilders, one of Europe's most controversial politicians, can win power.

 

Wilders last week demanded that his coalition partners sign a 10-point plan to slash immigration that included measures such as denying all new asylum requests and sending Syrian refugees back to the Middle Eastern country now that it has a new government.

 

On Tuesday, Wilders announced on X that his party had quit the coalition. "We had no choice. I promised the voters the strictest asylum policy ever, but that was not granted to you," he wrote.

 

The remaining parties, which lack a majority, could try to cobble together a new coalition in the coming weeks, but most analysts see new elections as the most likely outcome. The opposition coalition called for new elections after Wilders's decision, saying the government had left the country "at a standstill for a year, while there is chaos in Europe."

 

Schoof said he would stay on in a caretaker role until a new government could be formed or elections were held. He called Wilders's move to quit the government "irresponsible and unnecessary."

 

A new Dutch vote would be the latest test of whether far-right parties in Europe are still gaining ground amid weak economic growth and a surge in migration in recent years. Having won a string of elections in recent years, their record is mixed so far this year: The far-right AfD made big gains in Germany but fell short of power, and a far-right party lost in Romania in a runoff. But this weekend in Poland, a nationalist and admirer of Donald Trump, Karol Nawrocki, won the country's presidential election.

 

Wilders's Freedom Party won the most seats of any party in a 2023 election, but it lacked an outright majority and was unable to form a coalition with Wilders as prime minister. Instead, it joined a coalition with Schoof, a former head of the country's intelligence agency, in charge. Migration and asylum policy in the coalition is headed by a member of Wilders's party, Marjolein Faber.

 

In late April, the Freedom Party lost its lead in polling for the first time in 18 months according to a Dutch pollster Peil.nl. But in the most recent poll in late May, after Wilders published his 10-point plan on migration, his party was narrowly ahead.

 

Wilders, 61, rose to prominence by warning of "an Islamic invasion" of Europe. He has called for the "de-Islamization" of the Netherlands and campaigned to ban the Quran and close mosques. He has also focused on immigration, saying that Dutch voters who want far lower levels are being ignored.

 

His election win in 2023 was built in part by focusing on living standards. He gained broad support by arguing that high levels of migration were pushing up house prices and the availability of basic services, analysts said. Wilders played down some of his anti-Islam policies, such as his call for a ban on mosques, and pledged to drop them to forge a coalition government.

 

As in the U.S., immigration has become a hot-button political issue across most of Europe, a trend that has been fueled by lackluster economic growth and that poses a challenge to traditional center-right parties. Arguments over how best to control immigration have now brought down two successive Dutch governments, the first being then-Prime Minister Mark Rutte's in 2023, said Jess Middleton, a senior Europe analyst at risk-intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

 

Whether Wilders's move will succeed remains to be seen. If Wilders can frame the immigration issue as central in the election, he could emerge the winner, said Pepijn Bergsen, a former Dutch official.” [1]

 

We can only hope that Mr. Rutte’s attempts to spark a WWIII with Russia/China will be as unsuccessful as his attempt to run Dutch government.

 

1. World News: Dutch Coalition Collapses After Rightist Quits Bloc. Luhnow, David; Norman, Laurence.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 June 2025: A6.