Dilan Yeşilgöz, leader of the Liberal VVD coalition party, speaks to the press outside the Catshuis, the official residence of the Dutch Prime Minister, in the Hague, early on November 16, 2024.
Photo: Simon Wohlfahrt / AFP
Wilders accepts his populist Freedom Party must become the largest party “so that no one can ignore us.”
The more popular European populists become, the more establishment forces scramble to keep them away from power. This rule has been blatantly played out in Germany, where government officials are working to ban the AfD to ‘protect democracy,’ and in France, where Marine Le Pen has been banned from standing in the 2027 presidential election.
Dutch ‘centre-right’ People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) leader Dilan Yeşilgöz is working from the same playbook, saying this week that she will not enter a government with Geert Wilders again.
Wilders’ right-wing populist Freedom Party (PVV) quit the government at the beginning of June after the more establishment-oriented parties in the coalition spent months blocking his asylum reforms. Polling now suggests the PVV is more popular than any other party in the Netherlands.
But Yeşilgöz told Dutch daily De Telegraaf that Wilders was immature, adding: “We will no longer work with him.” A “low point in democracy,” said writer Bauke Geersing. Former senator Henk Otten added that this shutting out of the Right will spell the end for the VVD.
Hungarian MEP András László said that fresh polling, placing the PVV above other parties, proved “the Dutch want a government that stops illegal immigration,” and therefore means Wilders made a “good decision by pulling out [of the government] and people will reward him for it.”
[Voters] should also understand that they need to give PVV an absolute majority if they want real change instead of just promises.
The Dutch want a government that stops illegal immigration.
Coalition partners failed to live up to their commitment. Wilders made a good decision by pulling out and people will reward him for it.
They should also understand that they need to give PVV an absolute majority if… https://t.co/GZJTDH4eiI
Wilders has also accepted that his task now is to capture support from enough voters to prevent establishment forces from blocking him out. Responding to Yeşilgöz’s shutting of the door, the PVV leader said the VVD had chosen “Frans Timmermans’ GroenLinks/PvdA.”
[Yeşilgöz] wants to destroy the Netherlands together with the left. That means many more asylum seekers and Islam. But the voter decides. So make the PVV the largest party so that no one can ignore us.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
