Mark Rutte

Regional News • Europe
Party of Prime Minister Rutte wins the election in the Netherlands
Party of Prime Minister Rutte wins the election in the Netherlands
Credit: Minister-president Rutte from Nederland (+31) / via Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his right-wing liberal party VVD have won the parliamentary elections. According to the first forecasts on the TV channel NOS on Wednesday evening, the VVD will be by far the strongest force in the Second Chamber of Parliament with about 23 percent and 35 of the 150 seats. Rutte could become head of government for the fourth time after ten years.

Regional News • Europe
Netherlands: Government resigns over child benefits scandal
Mark Rutte
Mark Rutte Credit: EU2017EE Estonian Presidency (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)

Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government stepped down on Friday after it emerged that officials had wrongly pursued thousands of people over welfare fraud. A parliamentary report called it an "unprecedented injustice" to claw back tens of thousands of euros without giving the accused a chance to prove their innocence. The pressure on Rutte's four-party coalition to resign had increased on Thursday when the leader of the opposition Labour party, Lodewijk Asscher, quit.

Rutte said the government would continue to lead the country's COVID-19 response team until elections already scheduled for March.

Regional News • Europe
Netherlands: Five-week strict lockdown imposed
Netherlands: Five-week strict lockdown imposed
Credit: Illustration for Pendect by Ashley Winkler

The Netherlands imposed a five-week strict lockdown nationwide on Monday. Nonessential businesses, eateries, schools and cultural places will remain closed. The lockdown is set to end on January 19th.

Dutch PM Mark Rutte: "We have to bite through this very sour apple before things get better. The reality is that this is not an innocent flu as some people — like the demonstrators outside — think. But a virus that can hit everybody hard."