The fall of Dick Schoof’s cabinet, after just 11 months, has prompted fierce commentary and sober reflections in the Dutch press. Editorials and analyses in the main newspapers agree on one point: Geert Wilders’ abrupt withdrawal from the coalition has thrown Dutch politics into renewed turmoil, with serious consequences for the country.

In its editorial, the Volkskrant writes: “The country deserves a better cabinet.” It describes the Schoof government as a “disastrous squabbling club” and criticises VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz’s decision to open the door to cooperation with Wilders’ PVV in the first place.

The paper notes that Wilders’ “constant threats of a cabinet crisis whenever he did not get his way” were further signs that “responsibility became too much” for him.

Voters deserve “parties that are practically able to govern, that are democratically organised and that respect the Dutch rule of law and the international legal order,” the paper said.

Columnist Bas Heijne, writing in the NRC, argues that Wilders acted “in the knowledge that he was condemning himself to the sidelines of politics. And this time probably for good.”

Heijne writes that “he has no successor and has built nothing,” and calls the Schoof government “a hopeless cabinet” from the start. Wilders’ rhetoric, he said, served “to hide his appalling lack of administrative competence.” Heijne concludes that Wilders’ supporters will still enjoy his “aggressive indignation” and “visions of threat and doom” — but that is “what they will have to make do with from now on.”

The Telegraaf, in its editorial, is scathing: “Reckless, irresponsible and utterly unreliable!” The paper accuses Wilders of living up to “his reputation as a quitter” and “abandoning his 2.5 million voters.”

It argues that 11 months after the election promises of right-wing reform, “it turns out to be one big disappointment.” The editorial concludes: “The PVV-led coalition has failed.”

The Financieele Dagblad blames Wilders for forcing his coalition partners to sign an underdeveloped ten-point asylum plan, and notes: “He pulled the plug.” The editorial concludes: “Wilders should have taken responsibility by working on a solution, instead of walking away.”

Trouw, in its analysis, describes the collapse as a “deep wound” in The Hague and an “experiment of a radical right-wing party participating in government” that ends in “chaos, with anger and bewilderment.”

Former coalition partners, especially the VVD and BBB, have accused Wilders of putting himself first, the paper says. The analysis concludes that for the right-wing bloc in parliament, the deepest wound is that “they failed to make a truly right-wing cabinet work.”

Failed experiment

The AD describes the PVV coalition experiment as failed, though this is “still whispered rather than openly stated.”  It highlights the anger of coalition partners, who accused Wilders of being “reckless” and points out that even PVV ministers heard the news through the media.

The Parool, in a detailed reconstruction of the meeting which led Wilders to pull out, portrays the collapse as an “explosion.” The paper reports that Wilders told his coalition partners: “It is simply over. I am stepping down.”

The coalition partners, the paper said, felt Wilders was simply looking for a way to break the coalition. “Wilders wanted no more defeats,” the paper said. “This was never really about asylum.”