![Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte giving remarks on the resignation of his fourth coalition government following 'irreconciliable differences' over migration policy, on Friday July 7, 2023. [Twitter/Screenshot/Public — User: @MinPres]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-08-133156-e1688837708877.jpg "Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte giving remarks on the resignation of his fourth coalition government following 'irreconciliable differences' over migration policy, on Friday July 7, 2023. [Twitter/Screenshot/Public — User: @MinPres]")
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte handed his government’s resignation to King Willem-Alexander in The Hague on Saturday, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The resignation signaled the end of Rutte’s 17-month-old, four-party coalition government recently riven by differences over migration policy, the AP news report noted. The government will not pass major new laws but will remain in power as a caretaker administration until general elections later this year and the formation of a new ruling coalition.
Rutte’s Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD), or People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, is one of the four parties that comprised the coalition government. VVD and the Christian Democrats favor tough measures on migration, whereas the other two parties, Democrats 66 and Christian Union oppose a strict crackdown on migration, according to a separate AP news report. One of the migration proposals the government considered entailed creating two classes of asylum, a temporary one for people fleeing conflicts and a permanent one for people fleeing persecution. Another focused on reducing the number of family members who are allowed to join asylum-seekers in the Netherlands. Late-night meetings from Wednesday to Friday failed to result in a deal on migration policy, leading Rutte to “draw the conclusion that those differences are irreconcilable,” the report noted. (RELATED: Biden To Ease Restrictions On Migrant Worker Visas In Handout For Indian PM Modi)
Het is geen geheim dat de coalitiepartners heel verschillend denken over het migratiebeleid. En vandaag moeten we helaas de conclusie trekken dat die verschillen onoverbrugbaar zijn. Daarom heb ik het ontslag van het voltallige kabinet aangeboden aan de Koning.
Volledig… pic.twitter.com/iIbxtichRh
— Mark Rutte (@MinPres) July 7, 2023
In 2022, 401,351 persons moved to the Netherlands, with nearly 64% of them being European, according to Statistics Netherlands, the country’s statistical office. Asian immigrants were the largest non-European Union (EU) migrants at 17.3%. Non-EU asylum seekers numbered 21,505, and 18,465 persons from non-EU countries were students. Nearly half of the labor migrants from non-European Union countries are highly educated males working in the services sector, according to a separate report by Statistics Netherlands. The migration rate, however, reportedly strains housing resources in the densely populated country, the AP noted.
Rutte, 56, has been prime minister since 2010, becoming the Netherlands‘ longest-serving prime minister, according to the BBC. His government, the fourth coalition he has formed, has reportedly been under pressure on migration from other anti-immigration political parties in the country.