Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Dutch PM misses EU summit to save coalition

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has asked his Luxembourgian colleague Xavier Bettel to take his place at the EU summit of government leaders in Brussels on Thursday (18 December).

Rutte will stay in the Hague in an attempt to “solve the problem that has arisen” within his coalition, the prime minister wrote in a letter to parliament.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The coalition government of Rutte's centre-right Liberal party and the centre-left Labour party has been in danger of collapsing since Tuesday (16 December).

The “Christmas crisis”, as Dutch media have dubbed the row, started when three Labour senators unexpectedly voted against a bill by Liberal health minister Edith Schippers.

With their No votes, they struck down the bill, which would have limited the choice patients have in choosing their medical provider.

Schippers called it “very disappointing” that her bill was struck down, but the move by the three senators has repercussions beyond a failed bill.

In the 2012 elections for the lower house, Liberal and Labour emerged as the two largest parties, receiving a majority of seats between the two of them. In the Senate, which has the power to strike down laws, they had only 30 of 75 seats.

Soon enough the cabinet realised they needed a fixed set of parties to work with to gain majorities in the Senate, instead of scrambling for seats every time a bill has to pass the house.

Since 2013, the government has three favourite opposition parties to work with: the pro-EU Liberal D66, and the Christian right-wing parties Christian Union and SGP. The so-called “constructive opposition” helps the cabinet secure majorities in the Senate, in exchange for some influence in government policy.

That only works if party discipline within Labour and Liberal also remains tight. The three “dissidents” that voted against Schippers' plan, are a strain on relations between the coalition parties. The main question for the two sides is: can we trust each other to deliver the necessary seats?

All of Thursday, party leaders and ministers have been trying to find out if they can.

Meanwhile in Brussels, it will be Luxembourgian prime minister Bettel who will speak on behalf of Rutte.

He sent foreign affairs minister Bert Koenders to Brussels to brief Bettel. EU rules prevent Koenders, or anyone else, from replacing Rutte in the actual meetings.

In his letter, Rutte explained that the choice befell on Bettel – and not Belgian prime minister Charles Michel – because of the two other Benelux prime ministers, he has been in office the longest.

The Benelux is the cooperation between Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, which dates back to 1944, and was something of an inspiration for European cooperation.

Before EU summits in Brussels, the Benelux prime ministers meet to prepare. Since October, all three prime minsters are Liberal - and relatively young.

Dutch pro-Europe parties win heated election

The Netherland’s pro-European parties swept to victory on Wednesday in a closely watched election that had prompted concerns eurosceptics would increase their influence in future decision-making powers.

Wilders' party suffers blow, according to exit poll

Geert Wilders Freedom Party lost almost five percent of its votes compared to 2009 while the pro-EU D66 emerged at the top, according to exit polls for the EU vote in the Netherlands.

Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access

70 percent of northern Gaza is facing famine, new data shows. There is one shower per 5,500 people, and 888 people per toilet. 'How can you live in these conditions?" asked Natalie Boucly of UNRWA at the European Humanitarian Forum.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us