The government of the Netherlands falls due to differences over the control of the asylum system

The center-right coalition that has governed the Netherlands fell this Friday for differences over the reform of the asylum systemafter the prime minister, mark ruttehas demanded from its partners the restriction of the reunification of the direct relatives of the war refugees, assures the local agency ANP. Rutte is expected to present his resignation in the next few hours or days.

According to Reutersalthough members of the government have not yet made any statements, it is expected that Rutte calls an emergency cabinet meeting on Friday at night and, later, submit your resignation.

A boost from the Conservative Party VVD de Rutte to limit the flow of asylum seekers to the Netherlands split his government coalition, made up of four parties. Specifically, they positioned themselves against this average christian union and D66.

[España negocia con Países Bajos el tratado de doble imposición en pleno traslado de Ferrovial a Ámsterdam]

Tensions came to a head this week when Rutte demanded support for a proposal to limit entry to the children of war refugees already in the Netherlands and make families wait at least two years before they can be reunited. .

This last approach made the small Christian Union decide to leave the government coalition, triggering the crisis. However, the formation has not yet made comments to the media.

The Netherlands already has one of the toughest immigration policies in Europe, but under pressure from right-wing parties, Rutte had been trying for months to find ways to further reduce the influx of asylum seekers.

Applications for asylum to the country increased by a third last year to more than 46,000and the government has projected that they could rise to over 70,000 this year, surpassing the previous high of 2015.

[Mark Rutte, confianza perdida tras una década gobernando Países Bajos]

This will again put pressure on the country’s asylum facilities, where for months last year hundreds of refugees were forced to sleep rough with little or no access to clean water, sanitation facilities or medical care.

Rutte said last year he was “embarrassed” by the problems, after the aid group Doctors Without Borders sent a team to the Netherlands for the first time to help with the medical needs of migrants at the application processing center. of asylum.

He promised to improve conditions at the facility, mainly by reducing the number of refugees arriving in the Netherlands. But he failed to win the support of coalition partners who felt his policies went too far.