Brussels – Less than a year into office, the Dutch government has crumbled down. The leader of the ultra-right Geert Wilders pulled the plug on the unstable conservative coalition, criticising the now-former executive partners for not backing his hard line on immigration. The small coastal state thus plunged back into political chaos a few weeks before the important NATO summit on 24-25 June in The Hague, while the uncertainty of new early elections looms.
Citing disagreements over the migration policies to be adopted, the leader of the anti-Islamic and Eurosceptic ultra-right Geert Wilders announced this morning (3 June) the exit of his Party for Freedom (PVV) from the coalition executive that has led the Netherlands since the spring of 2024, lighting the fuse of the government crisis.
A few hours later, Prime Minister Dick Schoof declared that he would resign in the hands of King Willem-Alexander later today, remaining in office to manage current affairs until a new executive is sworn in. The former intelligence chief’s 11-month stint as premier, started last July after troubled coalition negotiations following the dazzling success of the radical right in the November 2023 elections, thus comes to an end. In the most right-wing Dutch government ever were sitting, in addition to Wilders’ PVV, the liberal-conservatives of the VVD (the party of former PM Mark Rutte), the centre-right NSC and the agrarian populists of the BBB.
Wilder’s breakaway opens the door to the second early election in two years (probably to be held in autumn), as there seems to be no alternative parliamentary majority to the one that has just been shattered. Currently, the polls speak of a substantial head-to-head contest between three formations: the PVV, currently in sharp decline, the VVD, which is on the rise, and the alliance between environmentalists and social democrats (GL/PvdA) led by former European Commissioner Frans Timmermans.
The other parties in the executive bitterly criticised Wilders’ move, branding it as irresponsible and selfish, motivated purely by electoral calculations. But it was not out of the blue. The enfant terrible of the Dutch far-right had already threatened several times in recent months to quit the government if the coalition did not support his hard line on immigration, on which the 61-year-old has built his entire political career.
As recently as yesterday, he had presented a 10-point plan to crack down on irregular immigration, issuing an ultimatum to the other three members of the executive: “If nothing happens, or not enough happens, we are out,” he had warned. Said and done. “The PVV promised voters the toughest asylum policy ever” and not “the ruin of the Netherlands,” he claimed, speaking to reporters at the end of yet another emergency cabinet meeting, held this morning in an attempt to defuse the crisis.
Wilders effectively called for a total suspension of the national asylum system, including a temporary pause in family reunification for refugees, the repatriation of all Syrian nationals, the closure of existing reception centres and the militarisation of land borders.
The collapse of the government in Amsterdam deflagrates like a time bomb only three weeks before the NATO summit scheduled for 24 and 25 June in The Hague. On that occasion, the leaders of the Alliance member states are expected to agree on the new military expenditure targets as a proportion of national GDP, which will be substantially higher than the current 2 per cent. Rumours indicate figures of at least 3.5 per cent for the defence budget, to be complemented by an additional 1.5 per cent for strategic infrastructures.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
