In the Netherlands, Mark Rutte now knows the cards that his first opponent, Geert Wilders, will bring down during the legislative campaign for the elections of March 17. Unsurprisingly, the leader of the far right is fully playing the card of nationalism. In a 51-page brochure, the PVV (Freedom Party) advocates withdrawal from the European Union, the return to national borders and the closure of the country to migrants from Islamic countries.
Geert Wilders, 57, is also campaigning to ban the right to vote for binationals. He intends to return to a country proud of its traditional values and therefore “without a headscarf”. Syrian refugees will also be banned from asylum protection. “The Netherlands has become an unrecognizable country. Immigrant street terrorists, often Moroccan, terrorize the Dutch everywhere, ”writes the PVV in its manifesto. This is not the first time that the leader of the PVV has pointed out the Moroccans. In September 2020, the Dutch Court of Appeal condemned comments made by him in 2014, but the court did not impose a sentence and quashed his conviction for incitement to hatred. For the PVV, Islam should no longer be considered as a religion, but as a “totalitarian ideology” and, as such, Koranic schools, mosques and the Koran would be banned. A minister of Immigration, Remigration and Desislamization would be appointed in a Wilders government.
The CDA rules out an alliance with the far right
In the Netherlands, proportional voting makes it unlikely that a single party will come to power. The PVV, second in the polls with between 12 and 14% of the voting intentions, is expected to win around 20 seats (out of 150) in the lower house in March. The radical nature of his program made the Christian Democrats of the CDA react, who ruled out an alliance with him. Wopke Hoekstra, current finance minister and leader of the CDA, has declared that he will only form an alliance with parties which “take the Constitution seriously and fully support it”.
The CDA currently governs with the Liberals (VVD) of Mark Rutte and it is very likely that it will remain in the position of the minority coalition party after the legislative elections. Three months before the election deadlines, the Dutch Prime Minister can be quite calm. He is in the lead with more than 26% of the voting intentions, and his management of the health crisis has rather strengthened his electoral base. His concessions at European level, with the acceptance of a recovery plan (supported by the Dutch employers) for which he had initially expressed a refusal, did not earn him bad polls.
It should also be noted that Geert Wilders is fully in line with the climate sceptic trend: he advocates the dismantling of wind turbines at sea “to make room for the boat”, the stopping of solar parks which are harmful to the landscapes, the withdrawal of the Paris agreement and abandonment of the European Green Deal. On the other hand, he cajoles a public in love with domestic animals since he intends to include the rights of animals in the Constitution, the establishment of a police force to protect them, the aggravation of the sanctions for the people who mistreat them, ‘ban on ritual slaughter and the allocation of financial assistance to over 70s for veterinary costs.
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