Netherlands: Rutte to Leave Politics After Elections Amid Govt Turmoil

Facts

• Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced on Monday that he will not run for a fifth term in office, adding that he will quit politics once the new cabinet is formed after the elections in November.¹
• Following Rutte's statement, a motion of no confidence to topple Rutte from power that had been tabled for debate that day was withdrawn.²
• In office for 13 years, the longest-serving Dutch prime minister will stay on as a caretaker until the general election for the 150-seat lower house of parliament, with his People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) having to elect a new leader after 17 years.³
• His cabinet resignation and political retirement come as the four-party coalition collapsed on Friday after failed attempts to reach a consensus on how to reduce the inflow of asylum seekers — projected to reach a record-breaking high of over 70K applications this year.⁴
• In a survey about the fallen cabinet conducted on Friday and Saturday, more than four-fifths of around 18K respondents rated Rutte's government as poor and nearly two-thirds claimed they were happy with its collapse.⁵
• Meanwhile, the outsider Farmers-Citizen Movement (BBB), which has called for a cap on asylum seekers and fiercely opposed Rutte's plans for compulsory farm buyouts to reduce nitrogen emissions and hit EU climate targets, currently has a 2-point lead in opinion polls.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²DutchNews.nl, ³POLITICO, ⁴ITN, ⁵Euractiv, and ⁶The Telegraph.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Breitbart. Given that Rutte had long been a lame duck walking into office even before his cabinet collapsed, this announcement was somewhat expected. Anyone closely watching the Dutch people protesting against his plans to impose a Great Reset-style scheme to shut down thousands of farmers in the country already knew that he and his allies would be forever swept away in elections.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by New York Times. While Rutte has faced a rapid deterioration of his popularity at home by the end of his tenure, it's undeniable that this seemingly ordinary man has led the relatively small Netherlands to the highest echelons of European politics by promoting an agenda based on free trade, fiscal prudence, and liberal social values. Now that he's quitting politics, his absence will surely be felt.