Netherlands: Failed Dutch rescue mission Libya could mean end of Rutte Government

Dutch PM Mark Rutte who has acknowledged that the Government approved the mission to rescue three European citizens, of which two Dutch nationals, could probably face the immediate collapse of his conservative government coalition if any harm comes to these three marines. Regardless of what eventually happens, his position has become quite precarious.

Even if the Government is able to negotiate their safe release it is obvious that the political opposition partiesin the Netherlands will make sure that the Government does not get away with their decission to have given the "thumps up" for this mission.

In addition, many pundits within the Dutch political community are now saying that this particular rescue mission, which was attempted only two days before the Dutch Senate  elections, seemed to have been based more on political, rather than on military considerations. If successful,  it would have given the Rutte Government an enormous boost in the election. This theory now seems even more in line with reality whenit became known that the news of the failure of the mission was withheld by the Government untill one day after the Senate election.

Another, more immediate negative result, also for the EU as a whole, is that the failed Dutch rescue mission has obviously also provided Gaddafi with a very strong point when he argues about the dangers of foreign intervention on the "sovereign soil of Libya". 

Most Dutch newspapers in general were very negative about the failed mission. The conservative NRC Handelsblad called it "a clumsy operation", while the Algemeen Dagblad noted that the failure was "a poorly planned military operation". Many commentators are also sounding alarm bells about the Dutch military leadership. The failed Libya mission, in addition to the critical comments the military received from the press and political establishment at home and Internationally, following the 1995 Srebrenica/Bosnia massacre as a part of NATO operations in that area, is certainly not helping their image.

EU-Digest

This report can be reproduced without
permission only  if  EU-Digest is quoted as the source

source map insert: ANP