(AFP) Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s coalition government collapsed Friday over “insurmountable” differences on how to tackle migration, with elections expected in November.
Rutte, 56, the Netherlands’ longest-serving leader and one of Europe’s most experienced politicians, said days of crisis talks between the four parties failed to produce a deal.
They fell out over Rutte’s plans to tighten curbs on reuniting families of asylum seekers, a bid to curb numbers following a scandal last year over overcrowded migration centres.
“It is no secret that the coalition partners have very different views on migration policy,” Rutte, the leader of the centre-right VVD party, told a press conference after talks broke down.
