VVD (Renew), the party of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte allegedly tanked the coalition to make the upcoming elections about migration, some Dutch MEPs said during a parliamentary debate on Monday, while others accused VVD of hypocrisy.
The Dutch cabinet collapsed on Friday following insurmountable differences between coalition partners concerning family reunification rules for war refugees, with coalition partners Christian Union (CU/EPP) and D66 (Renew) stating that Rutte’s stubbornness made it impossible to find a compromise.
“[The VVD] has fictitiously created an extra problem for its political interest, to later make the campaign about vulnerable people and be a bit tough about it,” Esther Ouwehand, leader of the Party for the Animals (PvdD/Greens), stated during the parliamentary debate.
GroenLinks (GL/Greens) leader Jesse Klaver chimed in with Ouwehand’s criticism, stating that “[regarding migration], you will have to make difficult decisions, but we won’t get there by lumping everything together by naming every migration the same and playing political games on that”.
The VVD’s parliamentary leader Sophie Hermans categorically denied that the party being adamant about limiting the number of family reunifications was a “campaign trick”, calling Ouwehand’s remarks “ugly”. She emphasised that “the cabinet put everything on the line. But it failed to reach an agreement”.
Meanwhile, right-wing MPs welcomed the focus on the issue of migration while also accusing the VVD of hypocrisy. “How cynical it is […] that the VVD, responsible for the largest ever influx of asylum seekers, […] toppled the cabinet because the influx was so high,” said far-right Freedom Party (PVV/ID) leader Geert Wilders, adding that “you need the PVV for a solid asylum policy” and blaming Rutte’s party for causing the current crisis.
Wybren van Haga (Groep van Haga) opined that “nobody knows what the VVD stands for anymore,” asking how the party aims to reduce migration numbers while categorically refusing to collaborate with parties such as the PVV in a potential coalition.
The VVD currently polls second behind up-and-coming agrarian interest party Farmer’s Citizen Movement (BBB), despite it being unclear who will lead the party into the upcoming elections after Rutte surprisingly stepped down on Monday. Hermans, among the most likely candidates for the position, stated she would decide later this week if she wants to run.
Meanwhile, BBB leader Caroline Van der Plas clarified that she would only consider the position of Prime Minister if she could be “Prime Minister for the Netherlands”, leaving the dossier of foreign affairs to a politically experienced and well-connected Foreign Minister.
(Benedikt Stöckl | EURACTIV.com)
Read more with EURACTIV
Belgian government agrees on pension reform to receive EU recovery funds
Source: euractiv.com
