Geert Wilders has toppled the Dutch Government after pulling out of the governing coalition because it would not back his plans for tougher migration rules, triggering a new election in which he hopes to become Prime Minister. The Telegraph has more.
The Dutch hard-Right leader withdrew his Party for Freedom (PVV) from the Right-wing alliance, formed eight months after his victory in the November 2023 general election.
He vowed he would become Prime Minister after triggering a snap election less than a year after the warring coalition took office.
“In fact, I am going to become Prime Minister of the Netherlands next time and ensure that the PVV becomes bigger than ever in the next elections,” he said.
Referring to himself in the third person, he added: “Today is the day that all of The Hague is against Wilders and the PVV. That is allowed, but I am very much strengthened in my position.”
After a two-hour emergency meeting of his cabinet, Dick Schoof, the Prime Minister, announced the collapse of the Government, which will continue in a caretaker capacity until after new elections.
He said Mr Wilders’s decision to quit the Government was “irresponsible and unnecessary”.
Mr Wilders had demanded his three coalition partners agree to a new 10-point migration plan, which included using the army to close land borders, the deportation of Syrian asylum seekers and an end to family reunification, without prior consultation.
“Close the borders for asylum-seekers and family reunifications. No more asylum centres opened. Close them,” he told them.
He also demanded a ‘one strike you’re out’ policy that would ensure migrants convicted of violent or sexual crimes were deported.
But after the allies refused to back the plan on Monday morning, the divisive anti-Islam firebrand wrote on X: “No signature for our asylum plans … PVV leaves the coalition.”
Mr Wilders’s PVV was the largest party in the coalition alongside the conservative-liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the Farmers’ Citizen Movement (BBB) and the centrist New Social Contract.
Caroline Van der Plas, the BBB leader, criticised him for a “reckless kamikaze action”.
Dilan Yesilgöz, the VVD leader, said: “The Netherlands needs a mature and responsible leader who will keep us safe. But Wilders is abandoning the Netherlands.”
The latest poll, from Peil.nl, gives Mr Wilders a narrow lead of 1% over Groenlinks-PVDA, the biggest Left-wing party and opposition, by 31% to 30%.
Frans Timmermans, the former EU climate chief and leader of the Groenlinks-PVDA, also called for elections as “soon as possible”.
Wilders’s party is way down on its commanding poll lead of early last year – being in government has not done it any favours, it seems. The question is whether collapsing the Government now will be rewarded by the electorate or punished. That will become clear in the coming weeks.
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