Far-right Dutch leader Geert Wilders has withdrawn his party from the government, bringing down the governing coalition after less than a year.
The move – which was brought on by a row over immigration – will now likely usher in snap elections.
Prime Minister Dick Schoof had made a last-minute appeal to coalition party leaders on Tuesday morning, but the meeting lasted just one minute before Wilders walked out, ending the coalition.
Wilders had asked for 10 additional asylum measures, including a freeze on asylum applications, halting the construction of reception centres and limiting family reunification.
“No signature for our asylum plans. PVV leaves the coalition,” said Wilders on X, referring to his Freedom Party.
There was shock and anger among political leaders, many of whom pointed out that several of Wilders’ demands are similar to policies already in the coalition agreement, and that they would not stand in the PVV’s way to implement them.
Many of the additional proposals put forward by Wilders had been dismissed during coalition talks because of legal concerns.
Wilders’ decision has put an end to an uneasy governing coalition which was born in July 2024 after months of political wrangling following elections the previous year.
Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration, far-right PVV was the largest party. The other members – which are still technically in the coalition – are the conservative-liberal VVD, the Farmers’ Citizen Movement (BBB) and the centrist New Social Contract.
Wilders’ former coalition partners accused him of engineering the crisis. VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz said the move was “super irresponsible”, adding: “This wasn’t about asylum at all.”
“I think Wilders is betraying the Netherlands,” said deputy Prime Minister Mona Keijzer from the BBB.
The opposition Socialist Party said the country had been “liberated from a political hostage situation”, with leader Jimmy Dijk calling the governing coalition “four right-wing quarrelsome parties that achieve nothing”.
Sandra Phlippen, the chief economist for ABN AMRO bank, said the immediate economic impact of the cabinet’s collapse appeared minimal because during its 11 months in office the government had “barely made any concrete plans”.
Dutch media also appeared unimpressed with the developments, with newspaper NRC saying that the cabinet “that was supposed to stand up for the citizens was destroyed by amateurism and incompetence”.
Wilders wanted the government to collapse as the support for his Freedom Party continues to drop in the polls, according to Armida van Rij, the Head of the Europe Programme at Chatham House.
By toppling the coalition over the issue of asylum, it’s likely Wilders will put it at the centre of his campaign in the snap elections that are likely to be called.
However, given that his party had been responsible for asylum and immigration for almost a year, there are no guarantees that such a gamble will pay off.
Ministers will convene this afternoon for an emergency meeting and it is expected that Prime Minister Schoof will offer the resignation of the cabinet to King Willem-Alexander before the end of the day.
New elections could be held in the autumn, Dutch media is reporting.
Another option for Schoof is to stay on as leader of a minority government – though in that case centre-right and right-wing parties would have to form shaky alliances with the liberal left-wing opposition in order to pass legislation. This is unlikely to happen – and Frans Timmermans of the Labour-Green alliance has already called for fresh elections.
With the Nato summit due to be held in the Hague at the end of the month, it is likely that Schoof’s ministers will remain in power in a caretaker capacity until a date is set for the Netherlands to return to the polls.
Additional reporting by Anna Holligan in The Hague
