It’s unbelievable, but the once-so-stable Netherlands seems to have degenerated into a Western banana republic. I have reported on multiple occasions by now, about several political crises down here. Today… yet another crisis.
The cause of today’s crisis? Minister of Immigration and Integration Rita Verdonk.
Dutch Parliament, now in new shape, had a debate with her about deporting illegal aliens. During the debate it proved that the situation was heated and that it was difficult to reach a consensus. That is why Parliament asked her to stop deporting any illegal aliens (who are here for 5 years or longer as I understand it) for a period of 24 hours (until the next debate about it).
Verdonk refused. She made clear that her policy would not change, no matter what Parliament had to say about it.
Parliament adopted a motion of disapproval, which effectively means that she had to go (something like a “Rita go home” vote). Verdonk’s party, the VVD, objected and its leader, Mark Rutte, threatened to pull back all VVD-ministers.
Prime-Minister Jan Peter Balkenende supported Verdonk as well… our Cabinet is currently talking about what to do…
Logically, one could say, Cabinet would resign, it would become demissionair and we’ll form a new one.
That’s not an option right now.
We are now in an unprecendented situation: this Cabinet is at this moment already demissionair. It fell months ago. We had early elections, last November, because of it.
What happens in the Netherlands at such a moment is that elections are organized as soon as possible and that the ‘sitting’ cabinet will remain in office, albeit with less power (quite limited). Someone has to watch the shop as we say.
What could now happen is that a ‘demissionair cabinet’ resigns. Can someone who does not officially have a job officially resign? No. Can a demissionair cabinet become… demissionair? It already is… If it would ‘become’ demissionair demissionair (heh), nothing would change. It does not seem likely that Parliament will accept such a ‘solution’.
On the other hand, just to send all the ministers home is not a solution either. No cabinet is not exactly good for the country.
Then, Verdonk could go and could be replaced by someone else. However, the Cabinet – at this moment – says that it will not change its policies. This means that her successor will do exactly what Verdonk did. Again, nothing will change, only the name of the executive will change.
Does not seem acceptable to Parliament either.
Lastly, the Queen could interfere. She could say that the Cabinet has to remain where it is, for the sake of the country. The problem? The Queen does not influence politics that openly. If she does, she is quite clearly taking sides. She cannot possibly do that.
Oh, and the CDA and VVD seem to disagree with each other as well: CDA wants Verdonk to leave now (and thus to do what Parliament asked), VVD ministers are threatening to resign if Verdonk is forced to resign. If they resign, we will have a ‘Cabinet’ left of… CDA. That’s utterly ridiculous. In a system with many parties, that means that they simply do not have enough people supporting them. Powerless, absolutely powerless. PM Balkenende could choose to do this, but… again, it would mean that our ‘ministers’ will be symbolic.
Blame game:Rutte and Verdonk. As a member of the VVD I cannot understand why they are acting like political amateurs. This is absolutely ridiculous. Verdonk makes mistake after mistake, she ignores the wishes and demands of Parliament, etc…
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We’re still busy forming a new government coalition. Due to the ridiculous results of the elections, it takes quite a while.
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To point this out again: this situation is completely new. Nobody knows what to do, nor what to expect (this includes our PM).
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