Dutch farmers are celebrating after Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was quitting politics after his Government collapsed having failed to agree to restrict chain migration for asylum seekers. The Telegraph has more.
The longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history announced he was quitting politics after the Farmers-Citizen Movement (BBB) had called on him to step down immediately.
Mr. Rutte was facing a vote of no confidence in the Hague on Monday after the fall of the four-party Government on Friday over his push to restrict the right of asylum seekers to bring their families to the Netherlands. The motion was withdrawn after Mr. Rutte’s announcement.
The BBB, which vociferously opposed Mr. Rutte’s plans for compulsory farm buyouts to reduce nitrogen emissions and hit EU climate targets, leads the polls ahead of an election expected in autumn.
“Rutte will not return in the next cabinet, A very wise decision,” said BBB leader Caroline van der Plas, whose party won a landslide victory in regional elections in March dominated by headline-grabbing tractor protests.
“There has been speculation in recent days about what would motivate me. The only answer is: the Netherlands,” Mr. Rutte, the leader of the conservative VVD, the largest Dutch party, said in the Hague.
“On Sunday I decided that I will not be available as a leader for the VVD in the upcoming elections,” added the 56-year-old politician dubbed ‘Teflon Mark’ after leading four coalitions over 13 years in office.
Mr. Rutte, who first took power in October 2010, said he wanted to continue as caretaker Prime Minister until the elections.
His coalition partners made it clear over the weekend they blamed him for the cabinet crisis, as he pressed for limits on family migration, even though he knew the measures went too far for junior partner Christian Union.
“I think this is the right time to pass the baton,” Mr. Rutte said, “I think it’s a wonderful job and would love to fight to continue, but at the same time I have to ask myself every time an election: what is wise? And this feels good.”
The BBB, which has called for a cap on asylum seekers, came from nowhere to become the largest party in all 12 Dutch provinces in the regional vote that became a referendum on Mr. Rutte’s lengthy time in office.
According to polling by Europe Elects, the BBB would be the biggest party after the election with 16.8% of the vote, ahead of VVD with 14.8%.
That the final trouble for the Government was owing to the major parties not being able to agree even the smallest the immigration restriction demanded by the electorate is very similar to the trouble in Britain where the Tory Government is finding it nigh-on impossible to implement even limits on illegal immigration. The European elite’s obsession with open borders despite the policy being plainly opposed by most voters is creating democratic crises across the continent and making many countries appear ungovernable. What will it take for the woke ideologues running the continent to jettison their commitment to unrestricted migration? I suppose we may soon find out.
Worth reading in full.
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