CDA leader Hoekstra finds the fall of the cabinet ‘unnecessary’ and ‘inexplicable’

ChristenUnie leader Mirjam Bikker: We were prepared to go to great lengths to control migration

Party leader Mirjam Bikker of the ChristenUnie says in response to the fall of the cabinet that her party was prepared to “go far” to take measures to control migration. She says to ANP that she has “weighed” the various proposals for asylum policy that were on the table, but that it was not possible with the other coalition parties “to arrive at a package that we can carry together”.

The ChristenUnie especially had difficulty with the restrictions that the VVD wanted for family members. “For us, one of the values ​​that is important in proposals is that children grow up with their parents, so that they can take care of them. As a family party, we stand for that”.

She supports the fact that Prime Minister Rutte has offered the resignation of the cabinet to the king and that he wants to continue to form a government with the current coalition on a caretaker basis.

VVD State Secretary Eric van der Burg of Asylum Affairs in tears

State Secretary Eric van der Burg of Asylum Affairs (VVD) is disappointed that no asylum agreement could be concluded and that the cabinet has fallen. He was moved to tears late on Friday evening, according to the ANP news agency, and said he found it especially annoying for all those people who have been committed for months to provide sufficient reception places for asylum seekers. “I had promised them an asylum deal.”

According to Van der Burg, “everything was taken out” to reach a migration agreement and there was no question of unwillingness, but of “an unbridgeable gap”. He did not want to comment on whether his party leader Mark Rutte has put unnecessary pressure on the negotiations. “I stay away from partisan politics.”

PVV leader Geert Wilders ‘ready’ to step into a new cabinet and does not exclude Rutte

PVV leader Geert Wilders is pleased that the Rutte IV cabinet has fallen. “It is a very happy day,” he told the TV program on Friday evening News hour. “We fought every day for the cabinet of Rutte and Kaag to stop.”

The PVV is the largest opposition party in the House of Representatives and Wilders says he is willing to step into a new cabinet. My party is ready. The PVV is the party par excellence to ensure that a majority is created to significantly limit the influx of asylum seekers.”

Wilders prefers not to see Rutte return as prime minister, but does not rule that out either. “The time when we exclude parties or individuals in advance must be over,” he told Nieuwsuur. “So if Rutte doesn’t just make kettle music to get more votes, then he also has to add butter to the fish and he has to do business with parties like mine.”

Group leader Sophie Hermans of the VVD told the TV program on Friday evening On 1 not wanting to govern with the PVV. “I do not see that happening, because we have said things about it before and nothing has changed.” According to Hermans, the PVV’s asylum proposals do not correspond at all with those of the VVD. “He wants to leave Europe, no one is allowed to come here anymore.”

CDA leader Hoekstra finds the fall of the cabinet ‘unnecessary’ and ‘inexplicable’

CDA leader and Deputy Prime Minister Wopke Hoekstra considers the fall of the cabinet “unnecessary”. According to him, it is “inexplicable” that the four government parties have not been able to bridge their differences and he expects that the asylum problems will only get worse due to the fall of the cabinet.

He himself would have liked to talk about a solution, he said after the extra council of ministers on Friday evening. “It would have been worth it to see if you could have worked it out.” He thinks that the attitude of Prime Minister Mark Rutte “obviously did not help in the process”.

CDA party leader Pieter Heerma was there on Friday evening News hour a lot more outspoken. He said that Rutte took an “irresponsibly hard” attitude during the asylum consultations and that he conducted “reckless politics” by threatening to vote in the Council of Ministers.