Mark Rutte was called “Teflon” because scandals and political crises slid over him like a pancake on a frying pan. The Prime Minister, who has been in power for the longest time in the history of the Netherlands, however, did not resist the latest political crisis which shook his government. The 56-year-old leader of the liberal right-wing VVD party came as a surprise on Monday by announcing that he would quit politics after the snap general elections scheduled for next fall, which are being sparked by the collapse of his government after infighting over asylum.
The stalwart of European politics had survived a previous resignation and multiple elections because of his behind-the-scenes skills and his “everyman” image. But Mr. Rutte, the Prime Minister who will have remained in office the longest in the history of the Netherlands, surprised by proposing divisive measures around the reception of asylum seekers, knowing that two of the four parties of his coalition government would refuse them. The latter logically failed to reach an agreement, causing the fall of the government on Friday.
The outgoing Prime Minister made a very discreet arrival on Saturday, of which he has the secret, at the residence of the royal family in The Hague in order to submit his resignation to the king, driving a Saab brand car. Since last week, the Dutch press has been trying to understand why this fine political strategist, experienced in dealing with other parties, took the risk of bringing down a government in place for only a year and a half. In reality, Mr Rutte seems to have favored the power struggle within his liberal right-wing party, VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy), other members defending a harder line than him on immigration and welcoming refugees.
Mr. Rutte has long relied on an image of a politician close to the people, painstakingly cultivated during his public appearances. Over the years, he has been regularly photographed and filmed by the national press riding his bicycle as he travels to meetings with foreign leaders, munching on an apple with one hand, holding his handlebars ‘other.
The youngest of seven children, his father Izaak was a trader, while his mother Mieke was the sister of Izaak’s first wife, who died in a Japanese internment camp in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II. , his brother Wim died in 1989 from AIDS. He who first dreamed of a career as a pianist attended the prestigious University of Leiden before joining the Anglo-Dutch agribusiness giant Unilever, working in the department of peanut butter, a very popular delicacy in the Netherlands. Down.
An admirer of British political figures such as Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, Mark Rutte became Prime Minister in 2010, forming a coalition government thanks to the support in Parliament of the leader of the far-right PVV party, Geert Wilders. By withdrawing his support for the government, Mr. Wilders had precipitated the fall of the latter in 2012, causing the holding of early legislative elections. But despite several attempts, he never managed to bring down Mr. Rutte.
If Mr. Wilders could not dethrone him, it is because Mark Rutte regularly takes up elements of his anti-immigration rhetoric, believe some of his detractors. Mr. Rutte took the reins of his fourth coalition in January 2022 after a record 271 days of negotiations. His previous government ended up resigning in January 2021, following a scandal: thousands of parents had been wrongly accused of child benefit fraud, on the basis of ethnic profiling.
This mandate had also been marked by tensions between Mr. Rutte and countries in southern Europe who nicknamed him “Mr. No”, because of his opposition to the release of European aid at the start of the Covid-19 health crisis. 19. But he found common cause with Germany and France on many issues and was a strong supporter of Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.
