Geert Wilders and Dutch coalition prospects

[Celerity]

The election victory in the Netherlands for the Party for Freedom fits into a wider picture of European radical-right populism.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/geert-wilders-and-dutch-coalition-prospects



The results of the Dutch election, in which Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom emerged as victors, have sent shockwaves through the political establishment. For the first time in Dutch history, a party of the extreme right is the largest in the national parliament. Wilders is an eccentric politician, known for his inflammatory rhetoric. He advocates the Netherlands leaving the European Union and has called Islam a ‘fascist’ religion. In a 2016 trial, he was found guilty of inciting discrimination (but received no penalty for the crime).

Partners needed

While polling leading up to the election had suggested that the Party for Freedom could become the largest, it had appeared to be running practically neck and neck with the parties of the mainstream left and right. But the polls were wide of the mark and Wilders ended up taking the most seats by a comfortable margin, even if he will need to seek coalition partners to form a government. The right-wing newcomers of the New Social Contract also did very well. Like the Party for Freedom, this party sees immigration as one of the reasons for problems such as the Netherlands’ stressed public services and lack of affordable housing.

However, Pieter Omtzigt, the New Social Contract’s leader (and a former member of parliament for the more centre-right Christian Democratic Party), is critical of some of Wilders’ more inflammatory rhetoric. Omtzigt would nevertheless seem the most likely candidate to form a coalition with Wilders, together with the former party of the now-departed prime minister, Mark Rutte [its new leader has ruled this out]. But it will be some time before it is clear if such a partnership is achievable. Coalition in the Netherlands is the work of months rather than weeks. These talks will be all the more complex thanks to Wilders’ personal profile. He may hold the greatest number of seats, but the controversy that has surrounded him for so many years may yet rule him out of the role of prime minister, even were he to be part of a governing coalition.

Should a coalition be formed, questions about the Netherlands’ place in the EU will inevitably come to the fore. Wilders wants a Brexit-style referendum and, even if this doesn’t materialise, we can expect him to bring a more Eurosceptic stance to any government in which he participates. This could have considerable consequences for the EU. Even when extreme-right parties in Europe differ on the question of exit, they agree on transforming the EU into a more intergovernmental body, taking power away from Brussels.

Example from Italy.................................

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[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Thank you for making this analysis easily accessible. . . . nt