To the soundtrack to the movie “Rocky” Tiger’s Eye As background music, far-right Geert Wilders (Venlo, 1963) addressed his supporters in a café on the Dutch coast, pleased with the results predicted by the polls and later confirmed. “Voters are tired. We are going to make sure that Dutch voters come first again,” he said in a speech. promised to stop the “tsunami of shelters””The Freedom Party (PVV), of which it is the only member, won 37 of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament, more than double what it won in 2021.

Former commissioner Frans Timmermans’ Labor-Greens alliance came second with 25 seats, a big jump from the current 17. Dilan Yesilgez, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s successor as head of the center-right VVD party, won 24 seats, ten seats less. than she had. The New Social Contract party, led by MP Peter Omtzigt, will have 20 seats.

Wilders, who celebrated the victory wrapped in an Israeli flag, turned to other parties, which he should become prime minister, but this is not guaranteed, since so far both liberals and centrists, and of course the left, have ruled him out. When news of the Freedom Party’s victory became known, they limited themselves to remembering that the initiative belonged to Wilders.

Negotiations will be even more difficult than in 2021, when they lasted 271 days. Finally, liberal Mark Rutte, who left the post after 13 years, was resumed as prime minister. Rutte was forced to resign in July due to difficulties reaching agreements on migration, a key election campaign issue.

“The other parties cannot drive us into a corner. I understand perfectly well that the parties do not want to be in government with a party that wants unconstitutional measures. We are not going to talk about mosques, the Koran and Islamic schools,” Wilders said. , who tempered his Islamophobia for pragmatic reasons rather than his anti-immigration policies or his Euroscepticism.

“We will never form a coalition with a party that excludes the Dutch… We will defend democracy.”

Frans Timmermans, leader of the Labor-Green Alliance

Socialist Frans Timmermans admitted that he was disappointed with the result. “We will never form a coalition with a party that excludes the Dutch… In the Netherlands we never let anyone go. Now we are going to defend democracy.” Liberal Yesilgez, who came to the Netherlands from Turkey at the age of eight, also admitted her surprise. “I think there are important lessons for policymakers to learn on this issue. People weren’t listened to enough and not enough viable solutions were offered. Leadership is not with us now,” he said.

Wilders knows that his program is impossible with the left, but argues that there are possibilities of reaching agreements with Yesilgoz’s VVD and the New Social Contract (NSC) of Christian Democrat Peter Omtzigt. It is also open to the BBB Farmer Party with seven seats.

Eurosceptic, Nexit advocate

Wilders proposes a referendum on leaving the EU, Nexit, which has no support in the Netherlands, one of the founding members of the social club. However, he advocates for his country to regain control of the country’s borders to reduce immigration, calls for sharp cuts in payments to the Union budget and rejects any new EU enlargement. He also demanded that the Netherlands stop supplying weapons to Ukraine.

The far-right leader’s victory joins the triumph of Georgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy in Italy just over a year ago. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was one of the first to congratulate Wilders. “The wind of change has arrived!”

Geert Wilders is the most threatened politician in the Netherlands due to his harsh criticism of Islam. Equate the Koran with My struggle Hitler. In 2020, a Dutch court found him guilty of “insulting a group” for campaigning against Moroccan immigrants.

In 2010, during Rutte’s first term, Wilders was a partner in government, but two years later he withdrew his support at the height of the financial crisis and forced new elections to be called. Rutte has held a grudge ever since.

She advocates right-wing policies that are merciless on immigration and is a defender of law and order. He supports the abolition of VAT on food, increasing the purchasing power of the Dutch and improving healthcare. He advocates lowering the retirement age and, to this end, directs money to combat climate change.

His victory, as he says Political, is Brussels’ worst nightmare. The European elections in June 2024 are becoming increasingly heated.