Dutch Government - McD - The Awkward Teenager Show

By: Duncan Stangel

Photo from Government.nl

In the aftermath of a dispute on immigration law, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (roo-tah) and his government have resigned. Like many European nations, the Netherlands has been divided on handling the influx of immigrants from Africa, Syria, and other regions. The mainstream conservative Rutte held together a loose coalition of moderate conservatives and centrist parties as the far-right surged in the polls across the country.

Rutte recently proposed immigration reforms that would create a two-year waiting period for children to join their parents in the country. This is the first time Rutte has addressed the issue of migration politics, showing that the issue is becoming a critical part of the mainstream political scene on the increasingly conservative continent. He has been forced to balance the needs of his centrist allies with his own conservative base. This stark turn on immigration spooked the centrists into pulling out of the coalition, causing the resilient Rutte to resign and elections to be scheduled for the fall.

Immigration reform is not as much a debate as it is a necessity in the Netherlands, the same as it is here in the United States. However, many interest groups have various methods for stemming the flow of new immigrants. Rutte adapted two of these methods. The first was to create a two-year waiting period for children to be able to join their parents in the country. This was the proposed reform that caused the collapse of the coalition. Rutte also took a trip to Tunisia last month, alongside Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. They announced a plan to pay the Tunisian government one billion euros to prevent the launch of various rafts sailing to Europe.

Rutte’s varied approaches to immigration reveal the reality that the required hodge podge of solutions is the most challenging part of the process. Many reforms must be implemented to speed up the whole system. One proposed example is creating two tiers for immigrants, one for temporary migrants and one for long-term residents. Even this moderate reform has lost popularity in recent months. While Rutte is at least trying to rectify the problem, the issue was also caused by his own government, which has seen a decline in affordable housing during his thirteen-year tenure. This has caused much of the overcrowding and squalid conditions prevalent in processing centers across the small nation.

Reforms in most areas of Europe have seen limited success due to the millions of arrivals in the past decade and a half. This has caused many to turn to far-right governments across the continent, including Meloni in Italy and Victor Orban in Hungary. The far-right preaches protecting the “national identity” instead of reaching out a generous hand to those in need. The far-right Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, which favors populist, pro-farmer, and anti-immigrant messages, already became the largest party during provincial elections last year.

The situation stokes fears that the 4th-wealthiest country in the European Union could become the latest victim of the far-right. Rutte has announced his intent to step away from politics altogether, showing that the 13-year leader is wary of a potential landslide against him. The use of migration politics in Europe provides a stark change that flirts with the far-right and authoritarianism and promotes a new era of conservatism across the continent.