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Talks to form new Dutch gov't crash on "migration": official

Xinhua, May 15, 2017 Adjust font size:

The talks to form a new Dutch government with VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks have been stopped after all parties fail to agree on the migration subject, government explorer Edith Schippers announced on Monday.

"A common base on migration failed," Schippers said during a press conference in The Hague, without giving more details.

It is no secret that left party GroenLinks and rightist VVD have totally different opinions on migration, with the VVD being most strict.

"I don't know if we would have agreed on other subjects. I only know all parties worked very hard to make it work," added Schippers.

The talks between the rightist liberals VVD, the Christian Democrats CDA, the leftist democrats D66 and green leftist party GroenLinks started on March 29, two weeks after the Dutch parliamentary elections.

Last week, Schippers, the Outgoing Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, stated she hoped that all parties would come to an agreement before the summer, but she also emphasized that the differences between the parties were big.

Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte's VVD won the elections with 33 out of 150 seats in the lower house of the parliament, ahead of the rightist populist Party for Freedom PVV (20 seats), the CDA (19), D66 (19), GroenLinks (14), the Socialist Party SP (14) and Labor PvdA (9).

All parties excluded cooperation with the anti-Islam and anti-Europe party PVV. A combination of VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks, the biggest winner of the elections (from 4 seats in 2012 to 14 seats in 2017), seemed the most logic option, although especially GroenLinks has a dissenting opinion on several subjects. Enditem