Dutch
right-wing cabinet in crisis, party leaders join talks
November 15, 2024
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/11/dutch-right-wing-cabinet-in-crisis-party-leaders-join-talks/
The Dutch cabinet was thrown into crisis on Friday afternoon
after a junior minister resigned,
apparently because of discriminatory comments made by other ministers at
Monday’s cabinet meeting.
Nora Achahbar, an NSC minister who had been charged with
sorting out the child benefit scandal compensation scheme, was reportedly
shocked by the “extremely racist language” used by the other three parties in
the right-wing coalition while discussing the violence in Amsterdam last week.
According to the AD, other NSC ministers are also
considering standing down, including Judith Uitermark, the current home affairs
minister. The four coalition party leaders have been summed to join crisis
talks at the prime minister’s official residence, the Catshuis on Friday
evening.
“Insiders consider the end of the cabinet could be on the
cards,” RTL correspondent Fons Lambie said. “The cabinet meeting has been
halted and ministers sat together with their own party members to wait and see
what would happen. It all depends on whether the NSC continues to support the
cabinet or not.”
Ministers and the leaders of the three other coalition
parties – the far right PVV, pro-countryside BBB and the VVD – have been quick
to blame youngsters with Moroccan roots for the attacks on Israeli football
fans and others in Amsterdam after the Ajax Maccabi Tel Aviv game last week.
They, and prime minister Dick Schoof, spoke of an
“integration problem” and said some youngsters with Moroccan roots have “turned
their backs” on Dutch values. They also called for dual nationals convicted of
anti-Semitism to lose their Dutch passports.
The talks are expected to continue into the night.
Meanwhile, opposition party leaders have said they want the
cabinet to publish the minutes of Monday’s meeting to find out exactly what was
said. Cabinet meeting minutes are only made public after 20 years.
They have also called on prime minister Dick Schoof, who is
not a member of a party, to make a statement.
“This cabinet is not for all the Dutch,” said
GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans. “Achahbar is completely right to say
enough is enough. Racist statements are the order of the day for this cabinet.”
Moroccan
roots
Achahbar, 42, was born in Morocco, has a law degree, and is
the second NSC minister to quit. Earlier this month, tax minister Folkert
Idsinga resigned after coalition partner PVV joined calls for him to reveal
more about his investments.
A coalition collapse does not necessarily mean that the
Netherlands will have new elections. There could be an effort to repair the
current coalition which has been successful when previous alliances have
collapsed, or ministers could carry one as a minority cabinet.
The GroenLinks-PvdA alliance, which was second in the
November 22 vote last year, could also be given an opportunity to put together
a coalition of its own.
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