The far-right leader of the Netherlands, Geert Wilders, withdrew his PVV party from the governing coalition on Tuesday due to a disagreement on immigration, this withdrawal paving the way for early elections in the Netherlands.
„Our asylum plan was not signed… PVV is leaving the coalition,” Wilders wrote on the social network X, referring to his program aimed at toughening the policy towards immigrants and asylum seekers, as reported by AFP.
This new governmental crisis comes just a few weeks before the NATO summit scheduled to take place in the Netherlands.
At the end of May, Wilders called a press conference to announce that his patience had "run out" and that he would make the coalition "explode" if his plan to restrict immigration was not implemented "within a few weeks at most."
This plan included, in particular, closing the borders to asylum seekers, strengthening border controls, and deporting dual citizens convicted of a crime.
The far-right leader has threatened several times to withdraw his party from the coalition, but the government led by Prime Minister Dick Schoof has survived until now.
Political and legal experts have criticized these proposals, labeling them as unfeasible or illegal, with some estimating that Wilders is seeking to provoke a crisis to bring down the government.
Following the most recent elections, PVV won 37 out of the 150 seats in the Dutch Parliament, making it by far the largest party in the coalition.
Recent opinion polls show that the support for this party has decreased. However, it still ranks among the top three parties, alongside the liberal VVD party and the left-wing Labour/Greens party.