Dutch cabinet falls!

This afternoon Dutch prime-minister Balkenende offered the resignation of his cabinet to the queen. The controversial coalition between Christian Democrats, Conservatives and Lijst Pim Fortuyn lasted barely a hundred days.

In these three months the government approved severe budget cuts in all social sectors and many plans to expand infrastructure and other environmentally disastrous projects. It also agreed to join the US in the Joint Strike Fighter programme. Environmental and other organizations now call for a freeze on their adoption and implementation until new elections have taken place.

Lijst Pim Fortuyn, the notoriously racist, populist and extreme liberal party of the assassinated Fortuyn, dropped in opinion polls from their current 26 parliamentary seats to 3 (of 150). The other two coalition parties dubbed the party 'unreliable' and said they are impossible to work with.