Dutch government falls apart over immigration; New elections upcoming ...Middle East

By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said Tuesday his coalition government will become a caretaker administration after far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders pulled his ministers out of the Cabinet in a dispute about a migration crackdown.

The announcement completed a day of political turmoil in The Hague sparked by Wilders’ decision to turn his back on the ruling coalition.

Schoof said he would offer the resignation of ministers from Wilders’ Party for Freedom to the Dutch king. He and the other ministers will remain in office in a caretaker capacity, he told reporters.

The decision means the Netherlands will have a caretaker government when it hosts a summit of NATO leaders in three weeks.

No date for a new election has been set, but it is unlikely before the fall.

Schoof, a career civil servant who was handpicked by Wilders a year ago to lead the government, said he had repeatedly to coalition leaders in recent days that bringing down the government would be “unnecessary and irresponsible.”

“We are facing major challenges nationally and internationally and, more than ever, decisiveness is required for the safety of our resilience and the economy in a rapidly changing world,” Schoof said.

Wilders announced his decision early Tuesday in a message on X after a brief meeting in parliament of leaders of the four parties that make up the fractious administration.

Wilders blames inaction on migration.

Wilders told reporters that he was withdrawing his support for the coalition and pulling his ministers out of the Cabinet over its failure to act on his desire for a clampdown on migration.

“I signed up for the toughest asylum policy and not the downfall of the Netherlands,” said Wilders, whose Party for Freedom is still riding high in Dutch opinion polls, though the gap with the center-left opposition is negligible.

Coalition partners rejected that argument, saying they all support cracking down on migration.

Prime minister appealed for leaders to act responsibly.

Dilan Yesilgöz, leader of the right-wing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, said before the meeting that Schoof urged the leaders to act responsibly.

“The prime minister who appealed to us this morning said that we are facing enormous international challenges, we have a war on our continent, an economic crisis may be coming our way,” Yesilgöz told reporters in parliament.

But just minutes later, the meeting was over and so was Wilders’ involvement in the government.

“I’m shocked,” Yesilgöz said, calling Wilders’ decision “super-irresponsible.”

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After years in opposition, Wilders’ party won the last election on pledges to slash migration. He has grown increasingly frustrated at what he sees as the slow pace of the coalition’s efforts to implement his plans.

Last week, Wilders demanded coalition partners sign on to a 10-point plan that aims to radically slash migration, including using the army to guard land borders and turning away all asylum-seekers. He said at the time that if immigration policy is not toughened up, his party “is out of the Cabinet.”

He made good on that pledge Tuesday.

Wilders’ decision comes days after conservative Karol Nawrocki was announced the winner of Poland’s weekend presidential runoff election, a victory that suggests that Poland will likely take a more populist and nationalist path under its new president, who was backed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

It is not the first time Wilders has turned his back on power. He pledged his support to a minority government led by former Prime Minister Mark Rutte in 2010, but walked away less than two years later after a dispute about government austerity measures.

“You know that if you work with Wilders in a coalition … it won’t go well,” Rob Jetten, leader of the opposition D66 party, told Dutch broadcaster NOS.

Other coalition leaders look to uncertain political future.

Caroline van der Plas, leader of the pro-agriculture populist Farmers Citizens Movement that is part of the coalition, said she was angry at Wilders’ decision.

“He is not putting the Netherlands first, he is putting Geert Wilders first,” she told Dutch broadcaster NOS.

Nicolien van Vroonhoven, leader of the New Social Contract party that has taken a battering in polls since joining the coalition and the departure of its talismanic leader Pieter Omtzigt, said the government could continue without Wilders, saying a minority Cabinet “is definitely an option.” Schoof’s statement appeared to put an end to such a course of events.

Opposition welcomes Wilders’ departure.

Frans Timmermans, the former European Commission climate chief who now leads the main opposition bloc in parliament, welcomed Wilders’ decision. He said he would not support a minority government and called for fresh elections as soon as possible.

“Well, I think it’s an opportunity for all democratic parties to rid ourselves of the extremes because it’s clear that with the extremes you can’t govern. When things get difficult, they run away,” he told The Associated Press.

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