Ministers meet to discuss next steps after government collapse

Ministers are holding a cabinet meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss what happens next, now that the right-wing government has collapsed.
Geert Wilders, who pulled the PVV out of the coalition on Tuesday morning over asylum, has said all his ministers will be withdrawn from the cabinet immediately, although insiders speculate that several may stay.
They suggest Ingrid Coenradie, who has had several high-profile disputes with Wilders, may hang on as prisons minister, while economic affairs minister Dirk Beljaarts is also likely to remain in place.
Trade minister Reinette Klever and health minister Fleur Agema have already indicated they will go. The PVV has five ministers and four junior ministers in the cabinet.
In the Netherlands, a cabinet becomes a “caretaker” body until a new government has been elected and sworn in. No election is likely before the end of September at the earliest.
Prime minister Dick Schoof, who oversaw the third-shortest cabinet term in post-war parliamentary history, is set to visit the king later on Tuesday and hand over his resignation. He will address parliament about the latest developments on Wednesday morning.
Ministers arriving for the cabinet meeting at the prime minister’s official residence Catshuis said they were angry and disappointed at Wilders’ decision to pull out.
“Chaos is being created and that is worrying,” said home affairs minister Judith Uitermark (NSC). “The image would appear to be more important than the contents. We would never have joined this cabinet if we had known this would happen.”
“Geert Wilders has betrayed the Netherlands,” said housing minister Mona Keijzer, who represents the pro-countryside BBB. “He put himself in first place, rather than the country.”
Opposition MPs say there should be a general election as soon as possible. GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans told reporters it was “great” that the cabinet had collapsed, because nothing has been done in the past year.
“We need to make progress and that means first going back to voters,” he said. “We can now come up with solutions for problems and work together as a country again. There has been too much division.”
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