Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s coalition government has disintegrated after barely a year and a half in power owing to a disagreement over steps to stem the flow of migrants.
Rutte, the Netherlands’ longest-serving leader, presided over crisis discussions between the four coalition partners but failed to achieve an agreement, according to broadcasters NOS and RTL, as well as the Dutch news agency ANP.
Rutte and coalition members did not issue an instant statement.
After a crisis last year involving overcrowded migrant centres in the Netherlands, Rutte, 56, leader of the centre-right VVD party, intended to tighten rules on family reunification of asylum seekers.
According to Dutch media, he asked that the number of relatives of war refugees allowed in the Netherlands be reduced to 200 per month and threatened to destabilise the administration if the legislation was not granted.