The collapse of the Dutch government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte highlights how the issue of immigration has become a critical dynamic of European politics. Mr. Rutte, in power for 13 years, resigned after failing to win the support of his coalition partners for a proposed refugee policy. According to reports, it had two tiers — a temporary one for those fleeing conflicts and a permanent one for those fleeing persecution — and a two-year waiting period for children of recognised refugees living in the Netherlands to join their parents. The coalition partners of Mr. Rutte’s centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy supported the two-tier system but opposed the two-year waiting period. Mr. Rutte, who decided to step down (and quit politics) rather than offer them a compromise, was known as “Teflon Mark” for his survival skills. With a domineering presence in politics, he turned the Netherlands, an affluent northern European country of 17.5 million, into a major voice in the continent. But controversies soon began to shadow his administration, denting his popularity. Tax authorities going after poor families over childcare benefits caused public ire while farmers were upset with his push to reduce emissions. The refugee policy was the last straw.
Like most of Europe, the Netherlands has seen an influx of migrants. In 2022, over 21,000 people from outside the EU sought asylum, while the overall migration figure for the year stood at 4,00,000. Immigration has strained housing capacity in the Netherlands at a time when the continent has been struggling with a cost of living crisis, and worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and western sanctions on Moscow. In several European countries, far-right and conservative parties with tough anti-immigrant policies have been making political gains. In France, Marine Le Pen finished a close second to Emmanuel Macron in the presidential election in 2022. In Italy, a party with neo-fascist origins is in power. In Greece, the conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has adopted brutal anti-migrant policies where immigrants are sent back to Turkey. Mr. Rutte was trying to ride this wave of anti-immigrant politics with his refugee policies. But a political programme that focused only on immigrants would only deepen the social cleavages of the Netherlands. The country’s political class, and Europe in general, should come up with a proper migration architecture to regulate asylum seekers. But they should also focus on easing the cost of living and housing crises and address widening inequality and other economic challenges, which are helping the far-right to blame the immigrants for the economic problems the country is facing.
