Mark Rutte: “I should have left earlier” | outside

“If you do it for a long time, your effectiveness decreases,” Rutte said on the radio program. One consequence of this was that “you also have to make more concessions to finally be able to form a government again.” To be very honest, this of course was also at the expense of my club profile. Rutte said this would no longer happen with his successor, Yeseljos. “She’s really cut from a different cloth. It doesn’t go as far as I went.”

Rutte’s fourth government fell before the summer due to immigration. He says his declining effectiveness and long leadership also played a role. The agreements on migration were “very vague.” “When it really came down to it, we couldn’t get out of there.” According to Rutte, this is not in the party’s interest and not in the country’s interest either.

“It’s exhausting work,” the Liberal Party member says of the Dutch premiership. “You have to be there all day, and be sharp.” With jet lag and numerous late-night meetings, this isn’t easy, he says. The outside world knows that Rottie is tireless, looking fresh even after short nights.

On July 10, Rutte announced his retirement from politics at the beginning of the debate about the fall of the Dutch government. Rutte has been Prime Minister of the Netherlands for nearly 13 years and political leader of the VVD for 17 years. He will remain prime minister until a new government is formed.