After coalition collapse, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is leaving politics

Mark Rutte will leave the Dutch political scene after the next election after his government collapsed on Friday due to disagreements over immigration policies.

Rutte is 56 years old and has served as prime minister since 1997. He has earned the nickname "Teflon Mark" because he has never been stung by scandal. Rutte was forced to resign due to the "unbridgeable differences" between the coalition of four parties over how to deal with asylum seekers and families.

Rutte stated: "Migrations are a significant political and social problem." We have all concluded that, since we were unable to reach an agreement about this issue, the support for the coalition is no longer there ."

Rutte is the leader of VVD (the conservative People's Party for Freedom and Democracy), which supports measures that create a system with two tiers, giving more rights to those who flee persecution and less to those who flee war zones. VVD wanted to limit the number of relatives who could accompany those fleeing a war zone to 200 per annum. The ChristenUnie party, which is the smallest coalition party and a Christian centrist party, opposed the policy, saying it would break up families.

Rutte had to fly back to the Netherlands from Greece to see Willem-Alexander. In January 2021, the outgoing Prime Minister presided over the collapse of his Cabinet. He resigned and returned to power when the VVD was elected two months later News.

Rutte has been rumored to be being considered for high-level jobs in NATO and EU, but he insists that he'll quit the political scene. He said "Maybe for a couple of days" when asked if he'd keep his weekly job as a teacher at a school near The Hague.

Elections are scheduled for October or November.

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