Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced his resignation on Tuesday, likely leading to early elections – hours after the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) led by Geert Wilders announced it was leaving the coalition over its failure to back a tougher migration policy.
“I have repeatedly told party leaders in recent days that a cabinet break-up would be unnecessary and irresponsible,” Schoof said after an emergency Cabinet meeting.
The Dutch prime minister said he would offer his resignation to King Willem-Alexander later on Tuesday.
He said he would stay on as caretaker until a new Cabinet is formed.
The government formed in July 2024 was initially unstable. New elections are likely to be called in the coming months. Political uncertainty is heightened at a time when the Netherlands is expected to make a key decision to increase defence spending as part of new NATO targets. The country also risks being left with an Interim Government ahead of an important NATO summit in The Hague at the end of June.
Wilders has insisted on a complete closure of refugee reception, the return of Syrian migrants to their country and the dismantling of migrant reception centres. Coalition partners rejected his demands, saying that the relevant initiatives should be developed by the Minister of Migration, a representative of the PVV itself. Wilders is not part of the government and had previously abandoned his claim to be prime minister to ensure a coalition with the other three parties.
Wilders’ Freedom Party, considered by many to be Radical in the Netherlands because of his strident anti-migrant statements, won a landslide victory in the November 2023 elections, but it and its right-wing allies did not have enough votes in parliament to form a government. Therefore, Wilders’ supporters began negotiations with centre-right pro-European political forces.