Dutch Liberals leader and caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte speaking to a reporter in April, on his way to coalition talks (Photo: Roel Wijnants)

Dutch coalition talks collapse two months after elections

EU Political

by Peter Teffer, Amsterdam/Brussels,

Exactly two months after Dutch voters elected a highly fragmented lower house of parliament, talks for a four-party coalition collapsed on Monday (15 May).

“The differences in opinion were simply too large,” said Edith Schippers, a Liberal politician who chaired the coalition talks between her centre-right party, the centre-right Christian-Democrats, the centrist D66, and the left-wing GreenLeft party.

Schippers said the four parties were unable to bridge their differences on how ...