The Dutch government has fallen apart after Geert Wilders pulled his far-right party, the PVV, out of the ruling coalition over disagreements on migration policies. Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced his resignation on Tuesday and submitted the cabinet’s collective resignation to King Willem-Alexander.
After an emergency cabinet meeting aired live on television, Prime Minister Dick Schoof called Wilders’ decision to pull the PVV out of the coalition both “irresponsible and unnecessary,” expressing his belief that the situation could have been avoided.
The coalition had been in power for less than a year before this fallout.
The dispute erupted when Wilders demanded ten stricter asylum policies, including suspending new applications, halting the building of reception centers, and restricting family reunification.
Despite Schoof’s last-ditch effort to unite coalition leaders during a Tuesday morning meeting, the discussion lasted barely a minute before Wilders exited, effectively bringing the coalition to an end.
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Geert Wilders declared on social media that the coalition’s asylum proposals would receive no endorsement, prompting his party, the PVV, to withdraw from the government.
This move stunned many political figures, who pointed out that several of Wilders’ demands closely mirrored measures already agreed upon within the coalition. They insisted they had no intention of blocking the PVV’s agenda.
Yet, a number of Wilders’ additional demands had previously been dismissed during negotiations due to concerns over their legality.
Wilders’ exit brought an abrupt end to the fragile coalition formed in July 2024 after prolonged post-election negotiations.
The coalition had been a patchwork alliance including Wilders’ far-right, anti-immigration PVV—the largest party—as well as the conservative-liberal VVD, the Farmers’ Citizen Movement, and the centrist New Social Contract.
From the very beginning, the partnership was viewed as a tenuous arrangement, plagued by internal disagreements and struggling to deliver on its ambitious policy promises.