The Party for Freedom leader said his party was leaving the coalition after other parties refused to approve his measures to stop illegal immigration.
The Dutch government collapsed after Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders said his party would pull out of the governing coalition on Tuesday.
Wilders said other coalition parties were unwilling to acquiesce to his wishes to completely stop illegal immigration, which he had demanded support for last week.
Taking to X, he wrote: “No signature for our asylum plans. No amendment to the Main Lines Agreement. PVV leaves the coalition.”
He later added: “We had no choice. I promised the voter the strictest asylum policy ever, but that was not granted to you.”
Wilders’s move prompted the resignation of Prime Minister Dick Schoof.
“I have told party leaders repeatedly in recent days that the collapse of the cabinet would be unnecessary and irresponsible,” Schoof said after an emergency cabinet meeting.
“We are facing major challenges both nationally and internationally that require decisiveness from us.”
Schoof added that he would hand his resignation to King Willem-Alexander later on Tuesday.
Last week, Wilders asked coalition partners to sign up to a plan to cut illegal immigration, which included using the army to protect Dutch borders, rejecting all illegal immigrants, sending Syrian refugees back to their country, and closing asylum shelters.
At the time, he said that if the country’s immigration policy was not strengthened, the PVV “is out of the Cabinet.”
He has now followed through on that threat.
The PVV’s withdrawal will likely lead to new elections in the coming months as it shatters the fragile coalition, which has struggled to reach any consensus since it came to power almost a year ago.
Wilders’s party is the largest in the Dutch parliament.
Wilder’s coalition partners responded to the news.
“Once again, Wilders puts his own interests above the interests of our country. By walking away. In a time of unprecedented uncertainty. A war around the corner, a potential economic crisis looming, and people lying awake over their bills. The Netherlands needs a mature and responsible leader who keeps us safe. But Wilders is letting the Netherlands down.” the leader of the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Dilan Yesilgoz, wrote on X.
Centrist New Social Contract party (NSC) leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven echoed Yesilgoz’s sentiments, saying: “Irresponsible that Geert Wilders is stepping out of this coalition. Right now, we could have achieved a lot—especially when it comes to stricter migration policies.”
Caroline van der Plas, leader of the Farmers Citizens Movement (BBB), which is part of the coalition, labeled Wilders “reckless” for pulling out of it.
“The cabinet didn’t fall because the plans were unfeasible, it fell because they weren’t implemented,” she said.
Without the PVV, the remaining coalition parties do have the option of trying to continue in power as a minority government, but are not expected to do so.
Opposition leader Frans Timmermans said new elections were the only option.
By Guy Birchall
