MPs will decide how far the caretaker cabinet can continue to make laws in a debate on Wednesday after Geert Wilders pulled his PVV party out of the coalition.

Prime minister Dick Schoof tendered the cabinet’s resignation to king Willem-Alexander on Tuesday, but will continue with the other three parties, VVD, NSC and BBB.

Parliament will now draw up a list of “controversial” topics that are off-limits until a new government is formed following a general election.

Officially a caretaker government is not supposed to make major policy decisions, but recent cabinets have been given more freedom. Mark Rutte’s third cabinet was able to keep introducing and repealing coronavirus restrictions after it resigned in January 2021.

The king has cut short a state visit to the Czech Republic this week because of the cabinet crisis, but still flew out to Prague on Tuesday evening after meeting Schoof.

Election “in October”

Willem-Alexander will fly home on Wednesday, leaving queen Maxima to perform the second day’s royal duties on her own. He said it was “extremely important to meet and greet our Nato and EU-partner at this time of geopolitical tensions.”

The electoral council will set the date for the election in the next few days, probably in October. That means the outgoing government will have to submit a budget for 2026 on Prinsjesdag, which falls on September 16.

The cabinet is also likely to have to make a decision to raise defence spending when the Netherlands hosts the Nato summit in three weeks’ time.

Geert Wilders is likely to be the focus of criticism in Wednesday’s debate after withdrawing the PVV’s ministers from government when the other coalition parties refused to sign off a package of more stringent asylum policies.

On his way in to parliament Wilders said he would keep up the pressure on the cabinet to bring in new immigration controls.

“Other countries are doing it, so let’s start now: close asylum centres, don’t let people in and don’t allow family migration,” he said.

Christian Democrat leader Henri Bontenbal called for a return to “regular politics” and stable cabinets, rather than the political deadlock of Schoof’s 11-month administration.

“The political experiment and chaos of the last 18 months hasn’t done much for us,” he told WNL. “A lot of people in society are longing for normality, a normal cabinet with capable people who get on with their job and deliver more than they promise.”