The longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history, Mark Rutte, has announced that he will not seek re-election following threats of a vote of no-confidence to push him out of office before the November elections.
Appearing before the House of Representatives, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced his eventual retirement from politics, saying that he will not seek to form another government and that he will step down as leader of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). His government collapsed on Friday, allegedly over differences within the ruling coalition over migration policy.
Rutte will remain as a caretaker PM until after the results of the coming elections later this year in November are finalised, however, the national Congress has the authority to designate any issue as “controversial” thereby mandating that a decision not be made until the next government is installed.
While the globalist PM claimed that he made the decision to leave politics on Sunday, it appears that his hand may have been forced, with opposition parties readying a vote of no confidence vote on Monday marshalled by Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders. However, the motion was withdrawn following Rutte’s speech announcing his retirement.
Rutte said per Algemeen Dagblad: “I made this decision on Sunday morning. I have thought about it I’ve been doing this for 17 years now. I love the club dearly, but it feels good to pass the baton now.”
“There has been speculation in recent days about what would motivate me. The only answer is: the Netherlands,” the outgoing leader added. “My position to that is completely subordinate. On Sunday I decided that I will not be available as a leader of the VVD in the upcoming elections.”
Rutte also claimed that he does not have an interest in becoming the Secretary General of NATO to replace outgoing chief Jens Stoltenberg.
The Dutch PM, who after 13 years in power has become the longest-serving leader in the country’s history, abruptly announced the fall of his cabinet and his resignation on Friday. The collapse of the government reportedly came amid disputes within the coalition on asylum policy and migration.
However, many political observers are pointing out that the coalition was ultimately untenable regardless, and elections would likely have been forced to occur one way or the other.
One such person to have correctly predicted that elections would come this year was Caroline Van der Plas, the outspoken leader of the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), which became the largest party in the Senate and in regional governments earlier this year on the backs of a large protest movement against the Rutte government for trying to impose EU green agenda rules to shut down thousands of farmers throughout the Netherlands.
Commenting on the end of Rutte’s political career, Van der Plas said that she hopes his departure will allow the Dutch people to “start to believe in politics again,” adding: “A generation has grown up that doesn’t know any better, that thinks that Rutte has been prime minister for a hundred years.”
As to whether she would like to become the next prime minister, the Farmer-Citizen Movement leader said that the only scenario she would consider is if she could serve as the “prime minister for the Netherlands” and only focus on domestic issues, while empowering the Minister of Foreign Affairs to handle the international stage.
This perhaps was a signal to PVV leader Geert Wilders, a longtime campaigner against the influx of immigrants from Muslim countries, who has openly said himself that his party is looking for a coalition partner to govern with. Wilders has also been an opponent, like the BBB, of Rutte’s crackdown on nitrogen emissions and his plans to shut down thousands of farms.
“The PVV wants to co-govern! We are desperately needed to implement a strict asylum policy. So voters, make the PVV so big that no one can ignore us!” Wilders wrote on Twitter on Monday.