Dutch govt falls as Geert Wilders withdraws right-wing support over migration

The governing coalition in the Netherlands collapsed on Tuesday after the populist leader Geert Wilders withdrew his party over a dispute about migration policy, ending a rocky 11-month rule by the country’s first far-right govt and triggering early elections. The move by Wilders shows how the debate over unauthorised migration continues to roil European politics, a decade after a large-scale influx of people fleeing wars or seeking better economic opportunities unsettled the region.The coalition’s collapse was confirmed by PM Dick Schoof, who said he would present his resignation to the king. He said he would stay on as the leader of a caretaker administration until the formation of a new govt. “I think it’s unnecessary and irresponsible,” Schoof said of Wilders’ decision. Wilders announced the withdrawal of his Party for Freedom from the four-party coalition on X, saying it was because of his partners’ refusal to sign off on a new list of proposals to curb migration. “No signature for our migration plans,” he said. Wilders’s party – which has advocated banning the Quran, closing Islamic schools and entirely halting the acceptance of asylum seekers – won the largest number of seats in Nov 2023 elections. Wilders was able to form a govt with three other right-wing parties after more than six months of wrangling. It was the first govt to include Wilders’s party, which mainstream parties had previously shunned. But in a sign of how uncomfortable their arrangement was, the parties agreed not to name any of their own members PM. Instead they settled on Schoof, a civil servant.Wilders had aimed to bring the “strictest migration policy ever” to the Netherlands, something his governing partners had said they agreed with. Last week he said he wanted to add 10 more proposals and demanded immediate support from his governing partners. The proposals included calls for a complete halt to asylum, a temporary stop to family reunions for asylum seekers who had been granted refugee status and the return of all Syrians who had applied for asylum or were in the Netherlands on temporary visas. The leaders of the other coalition parties said they wanted Wilders to propose them in the House of Representatives. That would have taken longer and would not have guaranteed implementation. On Tuesday, Wilders said he had no choice but to withdraw his party. nyt