Geert Wilders, who yesterday threatened to withdraw his Party for Freedom (PVV) from the government, followed through on his word today, leading to the government’s collapse.

On Monday, Wilders had threatened to bring down the Netherlands’ already fragile right-wing government, asserting it did not back his proposals for more stringent asylum policies.

Wilders, victorious in the recent Dutch elections, last week urgently sought backing for his plans to halt all asylum applications, repatriate Syrian refugees, and shutter asylum shelters.

Last week, Wilders had insisted the government endorse a 10-point plan designed to radically curtail migration. The plan featured deploying the military to secure land borders and deporting all asylum seekers.

His coalition partners declined to adopt his ideas, stating that the development of concrete proposals was the responsibility of the immigration minister, who is a member of Wilders’ own party.

After meeting with leaders of the government parties on Monday evening, Wilders declared this insufficient to maintain his support for the coalition.

Wilders told reporters, “We have a serious problem. We will address it again tomorrow morning, but the situation does not look good.”

Following Monday’s meeting, Wilders’ three coalition partners requested he submit tangible proposals for amending the existing agreement and voiced their frustration over his repeated threats to dismantle the government.

Dilan Yesilgöz, leader of the right-wing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), told reporters after the hour-long meeting, “If the aim is to ruin everything, say so openly.” Caroline van der Plas, leader of the Farmer-Citizen Movement party, asserted that “the Netherlands does not like quitters.”

In February, Wilders had also threatened to pull out of the coalition if two bills restricting asylum rights were not approved, though he ultimately relented.

The coalition, spearheaded by Wilders’ PVV party, has struggled to find common ground since its inception last July. It faced daunting decisions in the upcoming months, including a landmark increase in military expenditure to meet new NATO objectives.

Recent polls indicate a decline in support for Wilders since he joined the government, with his party now polling nearly neck-and-neck with the Labour Party/GreenLeft coalition, which currently stands as the second-largest bloc in parliament.

An administrative court in Germany has ruled that asylum seekers at the border cannot be turned back without the proper application of EU migration procedures.

This ruling effectively overturns the controversial policy announced earlier this month by the coalition government of conservatives and social democrats to turn back all asylum seekers at the border, except for vulnerable individuals.

The Berlin court made its decision after evaluating an urgent appeal from three Somali citizens—two men and a woman, one of whom was a minor—who arrived by train from Poland and were turned back at the Frankfurt (Oder) station after applying for asylum on May 9.

The judges found the rejection unlawful, not primarily because at least one applicant was vulnerable, but more broadly by questioning the overall legal justification presented by the German government for its policy.

The court emphasized that under the Dublin system, the EU’s asylum procedure, Berlin is obliged to conduct a comprehensive procedure to determine which member state is responsible for assessing an asylum claim when such a request is made on its territory.

The government had legally justified its decision to reject applications by citing the German Asylum Act, bilateral agreements with neighboring countries, and Article 72 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This article grants member states the right to suspend provisions of European law if public order is threatened.

However, the court rejected this interpretation, citing insufficient evidence to justify applying the public security exception under Article 72.

Although the applicants do not possess an unconditional right of entry into Germany, the court clarified that the Dublin procedure must still be conducted at or near the border.

According to the EU’s Dublin rules, asylum seekers should be processed by the member state in which they first arrive. However, first-entry countries such as Italy or Greece often do not consistently apply the Dublin rules, allowing asylum seekers to travel to other countries where they have family or friends. In such situations, returning asylum seekers to their initial countries of entry is practically challenging.

Nevertheless, the court also stated that asylum seekers do not have an unrestricted right to enter German territory.

The ruling is not appealable and could pave the way for lawsuits against other rejections and the prevailing practice.

Karl Kopp, managing director of Pro Asyl, a German NGO advocating for migrants that provided support in the three cases, told Euractiv, “The decisions are groundbreaking. This is a clear message to Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt: his approach is illegal, it violates European law, his argument regarding Article 72 is not valid.”

Dobrindt stated on Monday evening that, despite the ruling concerning the three Somalis, the government would continue its “policy of rejection” at the borders, asserting that this decision pertained only to specific cases.

Russian energy giant Gazprom’s gas exports to Europe through the TurkStream pipeline reached 46 million cubic meters per day in May, marking a 10% daily increase compared to the previous month.

This rise, according to preliminary calculations by Reuters based on average daily export data via TurkStream, follows the cessation of shipments from the Yamal-Europe and Nord Stream pipelines and the anticipated closure of the Ukrainian transit route for Russian gas from January 2025.

These developments position TurkStream, which has an annual capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters, as Gazprom’s sole remaining pipeline route to Europe.

Significant increase in May shipments

Data from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) indicates that the daily average of Russian gas supplied to Europe via TurkStream in May 2025 was 46 million cubic meters.

While this volume represents a 2.5% decrease from the 47.2 million cubic meters per day shipped in May of the previous year, it signifies a 10.3% increase compared to the 41.7 million cubic meters per day recorded in April 2025.

Total gas shipments to Europe through the TurkStream pipeline in May rose by 14.4% compared to April, reaching approximately 1.43 billion cubic meters.

Exports rose by 9% in the first five months of the year

Calculations by Reuters show that Gazprom’s total exports to Europe via TurkStream from the beginning of 2025 through the end of May increased by 9% compared to the same period in the preceding year.

The company’s exports climbed from 6.6 billion cubic meters in the first five months of 2024 to 7.2 billion cubic meters during the corresponding period in 2025.

In the January-May period of last year, Gazprom’s total exports to Europe, including transit shipments via Ukraine, stood at 13 billion cubic meters.

Shipments to Europe had increased last year

According to Reuters‘ calculations, Gazprom’s total gas shipments to Europe last year increased by 13% compared to 2023, rising from 28.3 billion cubic meters to approximately 32 billion cubic meters.

During Gazprom’s peak export years of 2018-2019, the company’s annual shipments to Europe surpassed 175-180 billion cubic meters, constituting more than 80% of its total long-distance gas sales.

Gazprom, which had previously disclosed its export data publicly twice a month, ceased publishing these statistics at the beginning of 2023.