Mark Rutte Dutch caretaker cabinet announces election in November

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Friday, July 7, 2023 

Mark Rutte, Kyiv, 2022
Image: President.gov.ua.

The Dutch government, under VVD prime minister Mark Rutte, has resigned this Friday over disagreement in how to deal with asylum seekers entering the Netherlands, in particular war refugees coming from Syria and Ukraine.

This came about after approximately three months of debate within the cabinet that came to a head this week when the Christian Union and Democrats 66 parties refused to sign a VVD-backed CDA proposal which would:

• Classify the refugees differently from other immigrants
• Limit the amount of those with relatives into the Netherlands to 200 per month
• Force families to wait two years before being allowed to reunite
• Shorten the stay of said refugees to a maximum of 3 years in-comparison to the usual 7 years.

Asylum applications have increased by a third since last year to over 47,000, and are expected to reach 70,000 by the end of 2023, government figures estimate.

This was Rutte's fourth term as prime minister, having been in office since 2010. He handed his resignation to King Willem-Alexander on Saturday. His government has been challenged due to the rise of far-right parties like the PVV and FVD which were campaigning on stricter immigration policies.

New elections will now be held, at the earliest mid-November. The current ministers will continue working as a caretaker government until then. Politico polling has shown the right-wing party BBB, under Caroline van der Plas, having a lead in approval.

Sources

• Peony Hirwani. "Dutch government collapses over ‘impossible to bridge’ differences on migration policy" — The Independent, July 8, 2023
• "Hoe Rutte vriend en vijand verraste: reconstructie van de val van Rutte IV" — Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, July 8, 2023 (Dutch)
• Mattea Bubalo, Robert Greenall. "Mark Rutte: Netherlands coalition government collapses in migration row" — BBC News, July 7, 2023
• "Nieuwe verkiezingen vinden op zijn vroegst half november plaats" — NU.nl, July 7, 2023 (Dutch)
• "Netherlands — National parliament voting intention" — Politico Europe, July 1, 2023
• "CDA wil onderscheid tussen vluchtelingen weer instellen" — Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, February 8, 2023 (Dutch)