Dutch government collapses
2006-06-30 12:55
The Hague - Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende officially tendered his government's resignation on Friday, a day after a junior coalition partner quit in a row over the country's hardline immigration minister.
The centre-right Balkenende formally handed in the resignation to the Netherlands' head of state Queen Beatrix, the royal information service announced.
The queen will now consult all the leaders of the political parties in parliament to determine whether new elections should be called immediately or if Balkenende's Christian Democrats can form a temporary minority government with its remaining coalition partner the liberal VVD.
Row over citizenship
Balkenende's government fell late on Thursday after the small D66 party withdrew its support in opposition to immigration minister Rita Verdonk's handling of the controversy surrounding the citizenship for Somali-born Islam critic and former lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
After initially revoking Hirsi Ali's citizenship over claims that she lied about her name in her asylum application, Verdonk later did an about-face and, on a technicality, said she could remain a Dutch citizen.
But some six weeks of heated debate over the immigration minister's tough stance had done its damage.
Leadership
The Dutch press on Friday put the blame for the government's collapse on Balkenende, for failing to rein in Verdonk and control his coalition.
Hirsi Ali, 36, known for her vocal criticism of Islam, came to international attention in 2004 after Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim extremist. She had written the screenplay for his controversial film about the treatment of women in Islam.
Verdonk's "stubbornness is the direct reason for the early end of the broken coalition," the centre-left De Volkskrant said.
By refusing to sack Verdonk, "Balkenende showed that he is politically incapable and morally unworthy of leading the Netherlands any longer," a De Volkskrant commentator added.
The resignation of the government was a "soap opera of squabbling ministers", said right-leaning newspaper Het Algemeen Dagblad.
- AP