Mark Rutte resigns as Dutch PM amid migration dispute
Global News
Rutte said he and his coalition partners have different views on migration policy and it was determined Friday those differences "are irreconcilable."
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced his resignation and that of his Cabinet on Friday, citing irreconcilable differences within his four-party coalition about how to rein in migration.
The decision by the Netherlands’ longest-serving premier means the country will face a general election later this year for the 150-seat lower house of Parliament.
“It is no secret that the coalition partners have very different views on migration policy,” Rutte told reporters in The Hague. “And today, unfortunately, we have to draw the conclusion that those differences are irreconcilable. That is why I will immediately … offer the resignation of the entire Cabinet to the king in writing”Opposition lawmakers wasted no time in calling for fresh elections.
Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Party for Freedom, tweeted, “Quick elections now.” Jesse Klaver, leader of the Green Left party also called for elections and told Dutch broadcaster NOS: “This country needs a change of direction.”
Rutte had presided over late-night meetings Wednesday and Thursday that failed to result in a deal on migration policy. More talks were held Friday evening, and he had declined to answer questions about the issue at his weekly press conference before the discussions.
“Everybody wants to find a good, effective solution that also does justice to the fact that this is about human lives,” Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag, a member of the centrist D66 party, said before the talks began.
The discussions underscored ideological divisions in the coalition between the partner parties that do not support a strict crackdown on migration — D66 and fellow centrist party ChristenUnie, or Christian Union — and the two that favor tougher measures — Rutte’s conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and the Christian Democrats.
The coalition tried for months to hash out a deal to reduce the flow of new migrants arriving in the country of nearly 18 million people. Proposals reportedly included creating two classes of asylum — a temporary one for people fleeing conflicts and a permanent one for people trying to escape persecution — and reducing the number of family members who are allowed to join asylum-seekers in the Netherlands.