Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has discussed the resignation of the Labour Party from the coalition cabinet with Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. The queen is currently on holiday in Austria and is expected to curtail her vacation in light of the governmental crisis.
Henk Brons, the Prime Minister's spokesman has confirmed that Mr Balkenende has now officially tendered the resignations of the 12 Labour (PvdA) ministers to Queen Beatrix.
This follows the collapse of the Dutch goverment in the early hours of Saturday morning over its position on military involvement in Afghanistan.
Mr Balkenende will also make available 15 cabinet positions, comprising 12 held by his own party, the CDA and 3 held by the Christian Union party.
"As the leader of the cabinet, I came to the conclusion that there is no fruitful path for the CDA, PvdA and Christian Union to take into the future," Mr Balkenende said on Saturday. "For days we have seen that unity has been affected by...statements that clash with recent cabinet decisions. These statements place a political mortgage on collegial deliberation."
"For 16 hours we tried to find a solution," said CDA foreign minister Maxime Verhagen. "I regret the fact that the will was lacking to consider all the options."
"Under the circumstances, the PvdA could no longer credibly form part of this cabinet," said Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Wouter Bos.
Video - reactions from key political figures:
Audio: RNW's political editor John Tyler spoke to key cabinet figures straight after the crisis meeting had ended.
Listen to reactions from:
- Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos (Labour Party)
- Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen (Christian Democrats)
- Defence Minister Minister Eimert van Middelkoop (Christian Union)
- Deputy Minister for European Affairs Frans Timmermans (Labour Party)
Elections
The government collapse means that a general election will have to be brought forward from the planned date of March 2011 and Dutch troops in Afghanistan will automatically be withdrawn from August 1 this year.
"Elections are likely to be held before the summer, by June at the latest," home affairs ministry spokesman Vincent van Steen told AFP.
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Wouter Bos and morals........ that's an oxymoron.
That means Bos is the moron so oxy stand for morals.
How quickly people forget his phrase: "I don't see myself working under Balkenende" and the quarantee that we WILL have another referendum on the EU constitution.
Leah wrote in Dutch:
Het is beter voor holland dat er eens vrije verkiezingen komen, zonder Balkenende, hij is zo vermoeid van alles wat hij niet gedaan heeft.
which means
It would be better for the Netherlands to have free elections without Mr Balkenende. He is so tired of everything he has failed to do [Ed.]
Wouter Bos made the right decision, he should be rewarded with his bravery in the face of an angry CDA and CU. Wouter Bos made the decision because deep in his heart, he knew it was morally right and it was the will of the majority of the people in this country. CDA, Balkenende only cared about how HE looked outside of the Netherlands and how he would look stupid politically because he was making decisions without PVDA support and automatically assumed Wouter Bos would give in which CDA was wrong! This is Balkenende´s fourth cabinet failure, proving that he was a weak leader to begin with and has nobody else to blame but himself and his lack of leadership.
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