dpa
Amsterdam
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrived at Huis ten Bosch Castle near The Hague on Saturday to discuss the resignation of his government with King Willem-Alexander.
Rutte already offered the King the resignation of his cabinet in writing on Friday evening, shortly after his government fell apart amid a dispute over migration.
The prime minister of 13 years said the differences among the four coalition parties on migration policy were irreconcilable.
He regretted his resignation, but called it "a political reality.” When Rutte arrived at the royal palace, he was reluctant to answer questions from reporters.
Rutte has left open whether he would run again in a new election, which observers expect not to be held until November.
The King had cut his holiday short to deal with the crisis of government at home.
Rutte’s resigning coalition government had been in office since the beginning of 2022. It was the fourth government headed by Rutte, a centre-right liberal.
The sticking point at the Friday evening crisis meeting in The Hague was a restriction on family reunification for refugees already in the country, which Rutte’s right-wing liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) party had demanded. These demands went too far for the other parties.
In particular, the conservative Christian Union (CU) insisted on the possibility for children of civil war refugees to join their parents in the Netherlands.