Political earthquake in the Netherlands where the far-right wins after the early legislative elections which were held on Wednesday. The anti-immigration and anti-Europe party of Geert Wilders obtains around 35 deputies out of 150.
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He is sometimes compared to Donald Trump for his too-blond hair and his populist rhetoric. It was his sixth election, the polls had never given him so high, but this time his party, the Freedom Party (the PVV), uncontestedly dominated a traditionally fragmented parliament. Two people congratulated Geert Wilders on Wednesday, November 23, greeting “the wind of change” : the French Marine Le Pen and the Hungarian Viktor Orban.
Concerns of Muslim organizations
In his program, he plans many anti-immigration measures. The PVV wants, in particular, to reestablish border controls and withdraw Syrians’ residence permits, on the pretext that certain parts of their country are now safe. And even if Geert Wilders has recently smoothed out his speech on Islam, “The distress and fear are enormous”said on Wednesday, Muslim representatives who fear becoming “second class citizens”. Priority to the Dutch in all areas: work, housing, health… The Netherlands must regain control, the nationalist leader calls for the removal of the European flag from the facades of government buildings, and promises a referendum on Nexit, a potential exit of the Netherlands from the European Union. As for climate change, according to his party’s manifesto, we must stop being afraid of it. There is therefore no reason to close gas and coal power plants.
Except that it is not necessarily him who will be Prime Minister. To find government partners he will have to come to an agreement with parties from the right and the center right. However, several parties have already declared that they would refuse to support him. But there are 26 in total and nothing prevents the establishment of a grand German-style coalition over a broad political spectrum. In any case it will be long, in 2021 it had already taken eight months to find an agreement.
A bad signal for Europe
Because in this country which has long been the model student of the European class, Geerts Wilders’ party could try to overturn certain common decisions, particularly on immigration. The success of the PVV is a bad signal before the elections of June 2024, the European far right has the wind at its back, it is progressing everywhere and is now part of the executive in six out of 27 countries.