Dutch PM set to quit after rift with far-right

The Hague, Netherlands: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was expected to tender his resignation today after the collapse of a parliamentary partnership with a far-right party fatally undermined his governing coalition.

The ANP news agency reported that Rutte would submit his resignation in a meeting with Queen Beatrix at the palace scheduled for 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) following a crisis cabinet session in the morning.

The resignation has been widely expected since the weekend when Rutte acknowledged that a rift with anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders' Freedom Party would likely lead to early elections, otherwise due in May 2015.

Although not part of the ruling coalition, Wilders' party had effectively guaranteed the government's survival for the last 18 months by agreeing to support it in parliament.

That arrangement however came to a juddering halt at the weekend when talks about a new package of austerity measures foundered.

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Rutte's liberal VVD party, its coalition partner the Christian Democrats and Wilders' Freedom Party had been negotiating in private for the seven weeks but their divisions were blown into the open when Wilders walked out on Saturday.

The turmoil has raised fears that the Netherlands' gold plated triple A credit rating could be in danger. It is one of only four eurozone countries to still retain AAA status among the three main credit rating agencies.

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