Key events
The Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, has some detail about the reaction of Geert Wilders’ (now former) coalition partners to him leaving the government, a move that will likely trigger snap elections. Here is an extract from his write up:
Wilders said the partners refused to adopt his 10-point plan for halting immigration for the purpose of seeking asylum, as he had demanded last week. Legal experts have said several of the proposals are in breach of European human rights laws or the UN refugee convention, to which the Netherlands is a signatory.
Dilan Yeşilgöz, the leader of the liberal-conservative VVD party, a coalition member, said prime minister Dick Schoof had urged the leaders to act responsibly before Tuesday’s meeting.
“The prime minister, who appealed to us this morning, said that we are facing enormous international challenges, we have a war on our continent, an economic crisis may be coming our way,” Yeşilgöz said. She said she was “shocked” by Wilders’s decision, which she described as “super-irresponsible”.
Another coalition party leader, Caroline van der Plas of the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), said she was very angry, and also called Wilders “irresponsible”. Nicolien van Vroonhoven of the New Social Contract (NSC) said it was “incomprehensible”.
Wilders’s plan includes enlisting the army to secure and patrol the borders, closing refugee accommodation facilities, sending all Syrian refugees home, suspending EU asylum quotas and banning family members joining refugees already in the country.