Dutch coalition government falls; new elections set

The government of The Netherlands fell yesterday, necessitating new elections this fall. According to most reports, a dispute among the four coalition partners over Dutch immigration policy proved irreconcilable. But a Dutch commentator pointedly disputes that claim.

How the Dutch government fell

Reportage on the fall of the Dutch government comes from France24, Reuters, Bloomberg, the BBC, CNN, and Gulf News. All identify immigration as the issue that caused the fall of the coalition government. Mark Rutte, head of coalition leader VVD, held talks yesterday aimed at resolving a dispute over admission of “asylees.” The Netherlands had some of the strictest immigration laws before the European Union insisted all its members take in those seeking “asylum” from unspecified adverse conditions in Africa. According to CNN:

VVD has proposed limiting entrance for the children of war refugees who are already in the country and making families wait for at least two years before they can be united.

Two of VVD’s coalition parties – the Christian Union and D66 – refused to support the restrictions, leading to the split.

The fourth coalition partner is Christian Democratic Appeal. CNN considers D66 liberal, Christian Union centrist, and VVD conservative. In fact, Christian Democratic Appeal leader and Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said flatly The Netherlands couldn’t take anymore immigrants.

The current coalition has lasted for 18 months. But Mark Rutte has served as prime minister since 2010, making him the longest-serving Prime Minister in Dutch history.

Mr. Rutte tendered his resignation formally to King Willem-Alexander yesterday. The king was out of the country, but returned to accept Rutte’s resignation and discuss forming a caretaker government. That government will stay in place until the country can hold new elections. Dutch law provides for a 90-day minimum waiting period after the resignation of a government. Summer and autumn recesses will push the date back further, to November.

Immigration is not the only issue that has roiled Dutch politics lately. Rutte’s government has supported Ukraine, even to letting Ukrainian pilots train in his country.

The farm issue

More pointedly, Rutte’s government proposed, in November 2022, to close 3,000 farms to curtail nitrogen runoff. Angry farmers reacted by driving their tractors onto the highways leading to Amsterdam, snarling traffic.

Eva Vlaardingerbroek, whom the Dutch press call the “shieldmaiden of the far right,” was aboard a cruise ship when the news broke. Upon hearing the news, through an intermittent shipboard Internet connection, she sent this long-form tweet:

(Note: click the Show More link in the tweet to see the full text of Ms. Vlaardingerbroek’s remarks.)

She has long supported the farmers in their struggle against the EU-inspired mandates. Moreover she has criticized all four coalition partners as favoring more immigration into The Netherlands. Breitbart reports what other organs have missed: a new pro-farmer party scored significant victories in April. The Farmer-Citizen Movement is now the largest party in the Dutch Senate (equivalent to Britain’s House of Lords but without hereditary rank) and controls several regional governments. Despite this, Mark Rutte had doubled down on anti-farmer policies after this last election.

Farmer-Citizen Leader Caroline van der Plas shared this video:

The statement about the “NL flag [flying] straight again” refers to the practice, during the farmers’ highway protest, of flying the Dutch flag inverted, as a rhetorical distress signal.

In reply to Ms. Vlaardingerbroek, this user shared this video expressing hope that more European Union member state governments will fall.

Another user shared this video of Dr. Robert Malone denouncing globalist politicians everywhere: