Limburg coalition collapses over PVV insult to queen, Turkish president

A row over the visit to Limburg by Turkish president Abdullah Gül led to the collapse of the province’s PVV/VVD/CDA ruling alliance on Friday. Limburg was the only place in the country where the anti-immigration party is part of a governing coalition.


The CDA says the anti-immigration party broke the terms of the regional coalition agreement during the dispute over a lunch for president Gül and the queen in Limburg.
The PVV planned to boycott the event, but later two PVV councillors defied the party line and said they would go because the queen would be present.
Damage
‘All confidence in the coalition has gone,’ local CDA leader Martijn van Helvert is quoted as saying by the Volkskrant. The PVV had damaged Limburg and its international trade relationships through its behaviour, he said.
The PVV in Limburg hit the headlines in January after one councillor described a Labour party colleague as ‘a piece of sicked-up halal meat made from a Turkish pig’. That councillor was thrown out of the party and another resigned over the affair.
The PVV became the biggest party in the province after the 2011 provincial elections with over 20% of the vote.
The CDA is now the biggest party in the province with 10 seats and will take the lead in forming a new administration.

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