Dutch PM Rutte meets king to discuss caretaker government
World
Dutch PM Rutte meets king to discuss caretaker government
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with King Willem-Alexander on Saturday to discuss a caretaker administration, the day after his centre-right government collapsed following a dispute over migration policies.
Rutte declined to comment on the hour and a half-long talks after he left the palace in The Hague.
"These are confidential meetings," he told reporters.
The next major step will be to dissolve parliament, but first there will be a debate about the government's resignation in the Dutch lower house planned for Monday.
After parliament is dissolved, an election will be held, expected in November.
Rutte, 56, in power since 2010, is the Netherlands' longest serving prime minister. He told a press conference on Friday he'd like to run for a fifth term but would consult with his party before making a final decision.
The crisis in Dutch politics came after Rutte's conservative VVD party sought to limit the flow of asylum seekers to the Netherlands.
Tensions came to a head this week when Rutte demanded support for a proposal to limit the arrival of children of war refugees who are already in the Netherlands and to make families wait at least two years before they can be reunited.
That was opposed by the small Christian Union and liberal D66, ultimately bringing the government down.
As head of state, the king is expected to ask Rutte's coalition to stay on as a caretaker government until a new administration is formed after the election, a process which in the fractured Dutch political landscape usually takes months.
Before meeting the king, Rutte tweeted he had called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to ensure him his government's caretaker status would not affect Dutch support for Ukraine.
