The parliament had previously adopted a disapproval motion on Thursday evening in The Hague with 78 votes to 72. Parliament had given credit to the left-liberal foreign minister for the unsuccessful evacuation of local Afghan employees from Kabul.
The Christian Democratic Defense Minister Ak Bijleveld also received a disapproval. But she decided to stay in office. Kaag was only executive minister and had only been in this post since May. A new coalition government has not yet been formed since the parliamentary elections in March.
The entire opposition and the ruling Christian Union party voted in favor of the motions for disapproval. The foreign minister then resigned: “Your parliament judges that the cabinet acted irresponsibly. I can therefore do nothing other than accept the consequences.”
It is unclear what the political consequences of this step will be for the formation of a government. At the weekend, the right-wing liberal VVD of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the left-liberal D66 with Kaag and the Christian Democrats should start talks about the formation of a minority government.
