The fall of the Dutch government will have consequences far beyond the borders of the Netherlands. Indeed it will affect immigration, bankers’ bonuses and the negotiations with Iceland over the Icesave repayments: all issues that require more than just a caretaker government to handle them.

Listen to a Newsline interview with John Tyler on the Dutch cabinet's collapse:

Yet a caretaker government is what the Netherlands will probably get for the next six months, or how ever long it takes to hold elections and form a new coalition.
 
A caretaker government is limited in how much it can do. Not by law, but by an unwritten rule that caretaker governments cannot make new policy, and should not do anything controversial.
 
Jan Vis, emeritus professor in constitutional law, says a caretaker government does have some leeway:
 
"Usually, the queen asks this kind of cabinet to do everything that it considers to be in the interests of the country. That's a vague remit. It depends on the political situation and the states the country is in as to what that may or may not be taken to mean. It's difficult to judge [what it may encompass] in advance."
 
More democratic
That leaves some room to manoeuvre. For example, in 2006 a caretaker government had to approve a general amnesty for illegal immigrants, after a slim majority in parliament voted for it. And in 1999 it was a caretaker government that decided to spend 50 million euros to purchase a painting by Dutch abstract painter Mondriaan. And, of course, the decision to support the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 was taken by a caretaker government.
 
It could be argued that a caretaker government is in fact more democratic than one with a regular mandate, as it has to take the wishes of parliament more seriously.
 
Caretaker governments are a frequent occurrence in the Dutch political system. Of the 27 governments since 1945, only 6 have served their full term and many of the others ended with a period as a caretaker cabinet. Also, the formation of a coalition can take months, during which time the previous government is caretaker.
 
Indeed, since the Second World War, the Netherlands has been governed by a caretaker government for a total of about six years.
 
Impact
But there is no getting around the fact that some Dutch policies that are relevant to people outside the Netherlands will be affected by the fall of the cabinet. Let's take a look at some of them:

Uruzgan
This was the decision that led to the fall of the cabinet. Dutch forces will almost certainly withdraw from the Afghan province this summer.
 
International development cooperation
Military withdrawal from Uruzgan does not mean there will be no Dutch presence there. Development, along with defence and diplomacy, was always an important part of Dutch policy in the province. It is, however, still unclear how much of the  programme can continue without support from the Dutch military.
 
On a more general level, a debate has been raging in the Netherlands about the importance of international development. Development Minister Bert Koenders had already got the cabinet to approve some reforms on how the government will spend its development budget. But larger scale reforms will now be put on hold.
 
A recent decision taken at the London conference on Afghanistan to help improve rule of law in Yemen will not be affected. The Netherlands’ development budget for Yemen already stood at 19 million euros and no new money was promised.

Icesave Bank
Last week Finance Minister Wouter Bos announced he is willing to soften some of the conditions for Iceland to repay the 1.3 billion euros lost by Dutch depositors in Icesave Bank. Negotiations are set to resume today. Iceland will hold a referendum on March 6, after the president vetoed a plan to repay the money. The negotiations may face a delay while the Netherlands sorts out who will be responsible at the Finance Ministry.
 
Bank bonuses
The financially-troubled Dutch bank ING recently announced cuts to executives' bonuses of up to 71 percent. This is in line with attempts by Finance Minister Wouter Bos to crack down on excessive bonuses in the financial sector.
 
The crackdown, such as it is, will not be directly affected by Mr Bos's absence. The Dutch government has not proposed any new law to restrict bonuses, but rather has applied pressure to the banking sector. As a result, last September, the Netherlands Bankers' Association announced it would cap all executive bonuses and salaries in effect from 1 January this year.

Immigration
The lower house of the Dutch parliament just passed changes to Dutch immigration policies proposed by the government. That law will now go to the upper house. The same holds for the new nationality law, which includes allowing so-called latent Dutch to get their passports.
 
Deputy Justice Minister Nebehat Albayrak was involved in increasing the coordination of immigration policies at a European level. Dutch input at those talks will likely be scaled back until a new government is in place.