Dutch ‘scout’ resigns
Gom van Strien, the scout for the post-election talks, has stepped down. This comes after fraud claims surfaced over the weekend, which the scout has denied.
The planned talks with party leaders have been cancelled for the moment.
Key events
Opinion: Geert Wilders’ win shows far right is being normalised
Stijn van Kessel, an associate professor in European politics at Queen Mary University, writes:
In 2000, when the Austrian Freedom party entered a coalition, other countries widely condemned the move and the EU imposed diplomatic sanctions. In 2023 it is common for European countries to be governed by far-right parties often in collaboration with centre-right parties. Next June’s European Parliament elections will surely see many voting for far right parties again.
Mainstream politicians have a moral obligation to uphold liberal democratic norms. While citizens’ concerns about cultural change and immigration can be legitimate, there is something fundamentally problematic about the far right’s idea of a “leading culture”.
Society is inherently diverse, comprising individuals and groups with differing values and preferences. “The voter”, a term repeatedly used by Dutch politicians to suggest that citizens are united in their beliefs, does not exist. Mainstream parties should recognise this and steer well clear of the far right’s anti-liberal frame that there is a “general will”.
Read the full story here.
Ajit Niranjan
The shocking success of Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV party in Dutch elections has left climate activists fearful of a drastic shift to fossil fuels and a rollback of climate policies if it manages to form a government.
Best known abroad for its rhetoric against Muslims, the PVV, which came first in Wednesday’s election but may struggle to find coalition partners, has taken a hard line on policies to stop the planet getting hotter.
The party wants to extract more oil and gas from the North Sea and stop building wind turbines and solar farms. It also wants to abolish the Dutch climate law and leave the Paris agreement on climate change.
“If these elections make one thing clear, it’s that politics will not save us,” said Yolande Schuur, from the Dutch branch of activist group Extinction Rebellion.
The PVV, whose success with voters was praised by far-right leaders across Europe on Thursday, has said it is not going to waste billions on “pointless climate hobbies”.
Its manifesto says that the climate has always changed and that the Netherlands – 26% of which lies below sea level – can adapt to further changes. “We will stop the hysterical reduction of CO2 , with which we, as a small country, mistakenly think we can save the climate.”
Read the full story here.
Dutch ‘scout’ to meet party leaders amid uncertainty over future government
Gom van Strien, who is serving as the Netherlands’ “scout” for post-election talks, will meet with the leaders of some of the country’s biggest parties today.
He will sit down with politicians including the Party for Freedom (PVV)’s Geert Wilders, GreenLeft-Labour party alliance (GL/PvdA)’s Frans Timmermans and People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD)’s Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius.
Writing on social media platform X last night, far-right leader Wilders – whose party won the most seats in last week’s election – said that if Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, the New Social Contract’s Pieter Omtzigt and the Farmer-Citizen Movement’s Caroline van der Plas sat down with him and made “reasonable compromises” then “we will have a coalition agreement within three weeks”.
“That is what our voters want and it is the very best for the Netherlands,” Wilders argued.
The VVD has said it would not participate in a cabinet with Wilders’ PVV, but did not rule out offering a Wilders government outside support.
Catch up here on our Dutch post-election coverage.
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