Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende called an emergency meeting of his caretaker Cabinet, seeking a way out of a political crisis that erupted over immigration policy just three weeks after national elections.
In a debate that stretched into the early hours of Wednesday, parliament passed a motion condemning Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk after she flatly refused to obey an earlier motion ordering her to freeze deportations of 26,000 illegal immigrants.
"I'm not prepared for a suspension. I've said clearly that after this debate, I'm going to uphold the immigration law," Verdonk said, rejecting a proposal to stop the deportations for a 24-hour period.
Normally, a parliamentary censure would lead to Verdonk's immediate resignation, but the Cabinet is acting only in a caretaker capacity until a new ruling coalition can be installed based on the results of elections held last month.
Verdonk's VVD Party, the junior partner in the outgoing government, threatened that all its ministers would resign if she was forced to quit.
Balkenende warned Verdonk's departure could prompt a constitutional crisis.
"We'll look at how the debate went and what there is left for us to do," he said.
The parties met separately on Wednesday morning, and the Cabinet met in the early afternoon.
The country's defense minister and the minister for overseas development rushed back from a curtailed trip to Afghanistan, but it was not immediately clear if they got back in time for the meeting.
It is highly unusual for parliament to dismiss an outgoing minister, but not unprecedented. However, never before has an entire party walked out of a transition Cabinet, and it was unclear what the subsequent procedure would be.
Verdonk, known as "Iron Rita," has also imposed mandatory citizenship tests for immigrants and detention of asylum-seekers while their application is processed.
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