Dutch government falls over immigration policy
The government collapsed after anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders quit the right-wing coalition
What happened
The Dutch coalition government collapsed Tuesday after far-fight leader Geert Wilders withdrew his Party for Freedom's ministers from Prime Minister Dick Schoof's Cabinet. Wilders claimed that the coalition's other three parties were stymieing his hardline anti-immigration measures.
Who said what
Wilders' departure ended the "rocky 11-month rule by the country's first far-right government" and highlights how immigration "continues to roil European politics," said The New York Times. Schoof, a career civil servant tapped by Wilders to be prime minister, called the decision to sink the government "unnecessary and irresponsible."
The coalition always "seemed a marriage of convenience," complete with "infighting," and an "emboldened" Wilders said Tuesday he intends to become prime minister, the BBC said. The "far right and Green-left parties are neck-and-neck" in polls, but Wilders' decision to "collapse the government is being seen as reckless" and may scare away future coalition partners.
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What next?
The Schoof administration will go "down in history as one of the shortest-lived governments in Dutch political history," The Associated Press said. The remaining ministers "will run a caretaker administration until new elections can be organized," probably in the fall.
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