- Title: NETHERLANDS: Dutch government steps down over immigration minister row
- Date: 30th June 2006
- Summary: (W5) AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (FILE - OCTOBER 26, 2005) (REUTERS) RITA VERDONK, MINISTER OF INTEGRATION AND IMMIGRATION WALKING ON TO STAGE VERDONK AT PODIUM VERDONK ADRESSING AUDIENCE
- Embargoed: 15th July 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Netherlands
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA9BYK5LU7SV7JBGUYFWJAGEIC7
- Story Text: Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced the resignation of his centre-right government on Thursday (June 29) after a row over the immigration minister prompted a party to quit the ruling coalition.
The smallest government member, D66, had withdrawn its support and its two ministers resigned over the row related to Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk's tough stance on the citizenship of a Somali-born Dutch politician.
"Following this, the remaining ministers and junior ministers decided to tender their positions to the head of state, the Queen. This also counts for me, the prime minister," Balkenende said on television.
"This will possibly happen tomorrow."
Preparations will be made for early elections, initially scheduled for May 2007.
Verdonk came under pressure to resign after she had threatened to strip Somali-born Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali of Dutch citizenship for lying about her name, age and refugee status on arrival in the Netherlands in 1992.
Hirsi Ali has been living under tight security after an Islamist militant killed filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who directed a film for which she wrote the script that accused Islam of suppressing women.
The murder of the outspoken filmmaker in 2004 stoked hostility towards Muslim immigrants.
Before that, populist politician Pim Fortuyn tapped into simmering anti-establishment sentiment before an animal rights activist killed him in 2002.
D66, which had been trying to boost its flagging profile ahead of next year's national election, pulled the plug on its support for the government after the rejection of a bill of no confidence against Verdonk earlier on Thursday.
Without the D66, the VVD Liberals and the Christian Democrats no longer had a majority in parliament.
Hirsi Ali had resigned from parliament last month and said she would leave the country after Verdonk threatened to strip her of citizenship.
Verdonk reversed her decision after Hirsi Ali submitted a statement saying she had not intended to lie to authorities and that her chosen name, Hirsi Ali, was valid because it was taken from her grandfather according to Somali customs.
Her given name before arriving in the Netherlands was Ayaan Hirsi Magan. Hirsi Ali, who needs a passport to get a visa to work at a conservative think tank in the United States, afterwards said she had signed the statement under pressure just to keep her passport.
Balkenende's government is deeply unpopular as public disquiet has risen about immigration and security compounded by budget cuts and an unpopular new health insurance scheme, but the economy is now recovering and unemployment is falling.
Dutch voters threw their support behind left wing parties in local elections in March, rejecting anti-immigration populists and ruling centre-right parties blamed for an economic slump.
A poll on Sunday showed the Christian Democrats would lose a fifth of its seas and the D66 half its seats, while the VVD Liberals' fortunes were looking up.
The opposition Labour party would become the largest party with 44 seats and the Socialists would win nine seats. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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