Dutch coalition survives political turmoil after minister's resignation

THE HAGUE — The Netherlands' right-wing government averted collapse on Friday after a junior minister resigned over alleged racist comments by cabinet colleagues related to last week's attacks on Israeli football fans.

Deputy Finance Minister Nora Achahbar handed in her resignation late Friday, setting in motion crisis talks between leaders of the four-party Dutch coalition government. 

Achahbar decided to exit the government after a heated cabinet meeting discussing the violence that flared on the streets of Amsterdam after a football match between local club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

"The polarising interactions of the past weeks made such an impact on me that I am no longer able to effectively carry out my duties as deputy minister," Achahbar said in her resignation letter to parliament.

Her departure prompted speculation that other members of her New Social Contract (NSC) party would follow, with the acting party leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven saying before emergency meetings that "we will see" about continuing in the ruling coalition.

After a five-hour scramble, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced late Friday that the coalition was intact, and his not-yet-five-month-old government had survived.

"Nora Achahbar has decided not to continue as deputy minister," the premier said after the coalition leaders' talks at his official residence in The Hague.

"We have as a cabinet decided that we have the confidence to continue together."

Addressing "the incidents in Amsterdam last week", Schoof said: "There is a lot of upheaval in the country. It was an emotional week, a heavy week and a lot has been said and a lot happened."

But he added: "There has never been any racism in my government or in the coalition parties."

 'Racist statements' 

The Netherlands is grappling with the political fallout of what Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema called a "poisonous cocktail of anti-Semitism and hooliganism".

In attacks that sparked outrage around the world, Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were briefly hospitalised after coming under assault following a match with the local Ajax team on November 7.

Prime Minister Schoof described the attackers as men "with a migration background", while far-right leader Geert Wilders claimed that the perpetrators were "all Muslims" and "for the most part Moroccans".

Dutch authorities have however reported that Maccabi fans set fire to a Palestinian flag before the match, chanted anti-Arab slurs and vandalised a taxi.

On Monday, during a cabinet meeting to discuss the violence, "things reportedly got heated, and in Achahbar's opinion racist statements were made," the NOS public broadcaster reported.

"Achahbar reportedly indicated then that she, as a minister, had objections to certain language used by her colleagues," NOS added.

Achahbar's exit threw into question whether the fragile coalition could retain the numbers needed to govern. 

Wilders's anti-immigration Freedom Party (PVV) won the most seats in Dutch elections a year ago, but shares power with the centre-right NSC, the Liberal Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the agriculture-friendly Citizen-Farmer Movement (BBB). 

The coalition would lose its majority if the NSC pulled out.

'Hard action' 

During a debate on Wednesday, Wilders further exacerbated tensions by calling for the attackers of the Israeli football fans to be prosecuted "for terrorism".

Premier Schoof has promised "hard action" against those guilty.

Many opposition politicians and commentators have meanwhile stressed that although anti-Semitism is abhorrent, the violence in Amsterdam was not one-sided.

Police have launched a massive probe into the incident which Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel said was "racing ahead", although much remained unclear about the night's events.

The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarised Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the war in Gaza.

The Dutch government late Thursday said it needed "more time" to flesh out a strategy to fight anti-Semitism.