Dutch PM "bewildered" and "disappointed" by govt formation talks collapse; parliamentary debate today

VVD leader and current Prime Minister Mark Rutte is "extremely disappointed" and "bewildered" that the government formation talks between the VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks collapsed again. A parliamentary debate on the matter is likely to be held before the end of Tuesday, the Telegraaf reports.

The formation talks again fell apart on the immigration policy. Specifically GroenLinks and leader Jesse Klaver could not agree to making asylum deals with North African countries, similar to an agreement currently in place between Turkey and the European Union.

Rutte did not bother to hide his disappointment. The negotiations stalled on something that even the most left-wing government in Europe would agree to, he said according to ANP. According to Rutte, it involved "decent agreements that adhere to all international treaties" and these agreements were only "a detail in the negotiations". He therefore can't understand why GroenLinks found it impossible to agree to.

"On Tuesday evening and Wednesday I spoke for over eight hours with Jesse Klaver under the guidance of the mediator. That led to nothing. Then there was a breakthrough on Thusday. That hit a wall again. Yesterday it turned out to be impossible for him." Rutte said, according to the news wire.

PVV leader Geert Wilders asked for a debate on the matter. Sources told the Telegraaf that the parliamentarians want to discuss the situation as soon as possible. It therefore seems likely that the debate will be held today still.