Dutch government resigns

The Dutch prime minister has officially tendered his government’s resignation a day after a junior coalition partner quit in a row over the country’s immigration minister.

The centre-right Jan Peter Balkenende formally handed in the resignation on Friday to Queen Beatrix, the head of state, the royal information service announced.

The queen will now consult all the leaders of the political parties in parliament to determine whether new elections should be called immediately or if Balkenende’s Christian Democrats can form a temporary minority government with its remaining coalition partner the liberal VVD.

Balkenende’s government fell late on Thursday after the small D66 party withdrew its support in opposition to Rita Verdonk, immigration minister, over her handling of the controversy surrounding the citizenship for Somali-born Islam critic and former politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

After initially revoking Hirsi Ali’s citizenship over claims that she lied about her name in her asylum application, Verdonk later did an about-face and, on a technicality, said she could remain a Dutch citizen.

But six weeks of debate over the immigration minister’s stance had done its damage.

The Dutch press on Friday put the blame for the government’s collapse on Balkenende, for failing to rein in Verdonk and control his coalition.

AFP