THE HAGUE: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced on Monday that he would be retiring from politics after snap general elections scheduled for this autumn, a move ending the longest career as prime minister in Dutch history.

The liberal-right leader (VVD), nicknamed “Teflon” for weathering the various scandals that have rocked his four governments since 2010, has said that after the snap general elections provoked by the collapse of his last Coalition will withdraw to internal disputes over the tightening of the Dutch asylum policy.

“I feel good, but of course it’s an important moment for me personally,” Rutte, the European Union’s second-oldest prime minister, told AFP. Hungarian Viktor Orban.

Accustomed to cycling to official meetings, Mr Rutte will have led the Netherlands for more than a decade, tampering with his ‘Herr Jedermann’ image to woo voters.

He was also a staunch representative of Europe, angering some southern countries with his tough line on bailouts but winning sympathy from other European leaders for his support for Ukraine.

“More fit”

Mark Rutte assured on Friday that he still had “the energy” to lead his party’s list in the general election and seek a fifth term in office, but that he had to “think about it” first.

On Monday he caused a surprise when he announced his forthcoming retirement from political life.

“Yesterday morning I made the decision that I am no longer able to be at the top of the VVD list again. On the occasion of the inauguration of a new government after the elections, I will leave politics,” he confirmed to the stunned MPs.

Mr Rutte said he would temporarily hold office until the elections, which the Dutch Elections Committee says are due no earlier than mid-November.

Mark Rutte’s government collapsed on Friday after he proposed divisive measures around accepting asylum seekers, despite knowing two of the four parties in his coalition government would oppose them.

Who should be his successor?

Rutte has received tributes from both the Netherlands and abroad as the country mulls over his possible successor.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Twitter: “Thanks for everything Mark. Not only the Netherlands will miss you.”

“Your decisions were not ours, but you made them with conviction and that deserves great respect,” Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right PVV party, told parliament.

Following Mr Rutte’s announcement, opposition parties dropped a motion of no confidence in the lower house of parliament aimed at removing him as acting prime minister.

Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra, who said he is also stepping down as leader of the Christian Democrat CDA party, one of the parties in the coalition that ousted on Friday, said he had “incredible respect” for Mr Rutte.

While no clear successor has yet emerged within the VVD, the post-Rutte era campaign promises to be one of the most heated in several decades following the recent emergence of a pro-farmer formation, the BBB. This party took first place in all regional councils in the March regional elections, as well as in the Senate, whose composition depends on these local elections.

Its leader, Caroline van der Plas, told AFP she was “very surprised” by Mr Rutte’s decision, which she nevertheless thought was “very wise”. She added that she was “not sure yet” if she wants to be prime minister, but the “good news for the Netherlands is that a new policy is being worked out”.

Turkish-born Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgoz and VVD parliamentary group leader Sophie Hermans, a former assistant to Mr Rutte, are among the favorites to succeed Mr Rutte as his party’s list leader in the general election, the RTL television channel said.