Dutch government collapses amid squabbling

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The Dutch government collapsed Wednesday, undermined by frictions among the three coalition partners and a power struggle within one of the parties.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told Parliament the 12-week-old coalition was unworkable, and he had decided to submit his resignation to Queen Beatrix.

Balkenende, who spoke to the queen earlier Wednesday, was likely to go through the formality of giving her his resignation letter later in the day.

"I came to the conclusion that no further fruitful, long-lasting partnership is possible within the coalition," Balkenende said in a prepared statement to Parliament. "Therefore, I plan to offer the (Cabinet's) resignation to the queen."

Balkenende said the crisis began to spiral out of control Friday, when personal disputes between two Cabinet ministers reached the point where the two other coalition partners lost faith in the unstable upstart party, Pim Fortuyn's List.

Hours before he spoke, the two feuding ministers separately announced their resignations in hopes of salvaging the government, but the move failed to avert the collapse.

"I did everything I could to resolve the conflict between the two ministers, but I wasn't successful," the prime minister said, after a day of hasty consultations.

The resignation was likely to lead to new elections within three months, making the Balkenende government the most short-lived since World War II.

It also could mean the virtual demise of the Pim Fortuyn's List party, or LPF, which thundered into the Dutch political scene early this year on a platform of curbing immigration and crime. Its founder, Pim Fortuyn, was murdered nine days before the May 15 election that swept his party into a second-place finish on a wave of sympathy.

Recent polls suggest the LPF has lost nearly all its public support, and would retain just a few of the 26 seats in the 150-member Parliament.

Other European government's were closely watching the political drama in the Netherlands, as a critical decision approached on whether to admit new members into the 15-nation European Union. The Dutch had taken a hard line against admitting all 10 applicants from eastern Europe.

The outgoing foreign minister, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said the EU decision-making process on expansion would go on. "NATO and the EU will not wait for the Netherlands," he said, although it was not clear how much influence the Dutch will have with only a caretaker government.

A lot happened.

The LPF was divided, and some people didn't get along very well. But this was not a very big problem, although the media tried it's best to make it look really bad. Zalm, VVD-leader, got angry a while ago on journalists because of this.

But the LPF kept on struggling with their new leader, a young man not suited for the job. This caused a lot of voters to leave.

Two days ago, the new poll-figures were in: most voters would return to their own party, and the CDA would gain from 43 to 51 seats too, together with the VVD.

Right after the funeral of prince Claus, the VVD resigned, followed by the CDA.

They know voters will leave the LPF and vote for them. For the CDA this was not an issue, but to the VVD it was. This was also noted by SP leaders Marijnessen, who accused the VVD of letting the government fall to gain a lot of power the next elections.

But the blame is mostly on the inexperience of the LPF. No real leader, no experienced people (except for minister Nawijn, who was doing a good job). And a lot of people came from either the VVD or the PvdA, who left those parties last year. So opposing views.

Another factor was the inexperience of prime-minister Balkenende (CDA), who is 47, and was too hungry to lead a country.

The CDA and VVD will be big enough to form a new government without a thrid party, but they said they would not do that.

Without Fortuyn, the LPF would never have survived.
It's a shame, but I was not expecting too much of either the LPF, nor CDA. I knew the VVD would continue their policy like they did the last 8 years, but the CDA only talked about morals and values, but never acted. Promises to voters were broken right away, like the appointment of Ad Melkert for a job at the Worldbank.

I knew that without Fortuyn we would get screwed anyhow. The CDA is not much more to the right than the PvdA (socialists) and it was only talk, no action.

Maybe it's better this way. People in Europe like to be kicked around, like in Germany. Some empty promises, that are forgotten by everyone right after the election.

The only positive things are minister Nawijn (LPF), who did some good thing at the immigration and integration office. And the support of a US strike on Iraq.

My predictions are that the LPF will lose all but three seats, and the CDA/VVD (and maybe a small party) will form the next government, again with Balkenede as primi-minister.

Prices will continue to rise (the expansion of the EU will double the cost for the Netherlands to 6 billion Euro a year). Safety will still not get any better, and in the end they will screw us like the PvdA/VVD/D'66 government did before. We in the Netherlands can already look forward to having the highest car prizes in the EU, and the promise of Pim Fortuyn to lower the fuel prices (agreed upon by the CDA) will not take place.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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