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Dutch firebrand Geert Wilders joins new government as Europe’s ‘liberal elites’ put on notice
Populist Dutch political leader Geert Wilders, of the anti-Muslim immigration Freedom Party in the Netherlands, cobbled together a right-wing coalition government on Wednesday, sending shock waves across Europe’s establishment political system.
Thomas Corbett-Dillon, a political commentator and former adviser to conservative ex-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, told Fox News Digital “The EU elections are just a few weeks away, and the liberal elites are in absolute panic because a sharp jump to the right is inevitable across Europe.”
He claimed that “This shift is being led by the youth, who saw these left-wing authoritarians destroy their lives during COVID, consistently suppress their national pride, and invite the Third World into Europe, while they can’t find a job, let alone enough money for a house.”
HARD-RIGHT FIREBRAND GEERT WILDERS WINS ELECTION IN NETHERLANDS: ‘DUTCH DONALD TRUMP’
Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom, celebrates in his party office after his party’s victory in the general election on Nov. 23, 2023 in The Hague, Netherlands. The Netherlands’ far-right, anti-EU leader Geert Wilders won the most votes in parliamentary elections on Nov. 22, dominated by debate around rising immigration in the Netherlands. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
Corbett Dillon added “Right Wing parties are rising across Europe. Look at Ireland, Sweden, France, Hungary, Italy…the list goes on and on. The European people have been clear. No more immigration, no more Islamification, no more Green agenda. Enough . Remember those Dutch farmers who rose up and blockaded their capital, demanding their country back? Well, today they won.”
Measures targeting immigration were key components of the “Hope, courage and pride” agreement formed by the four Dutch coalition party political factions. “Deport people without a valid residence permit as much as possible, even forcibly,” the 26-page document says.
Farmers gather at Zuider Park to protest against the government’s farming policy on reduction of nitrogen emissions in The Hague, Netherlands on March 11, 2023. Thousands of farmers staged demonstrations throughout the country. (Photo by Abdullah AÅıran/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“We are writing history today,” Wilders proclaimed, saying he had made sure the three other coalition parties, including the one of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, had accepted the core of his program. “The sun will shine again in the Netherlands,” Wilders said. “It is the strongest asylum policy ever.”
The “Hope, courage and pride” deal scraps family reunification for refugees and seeks to reduce the number of international students studying in the country.
From left to right, Netherlands’ party leaders Geert Wilders (PVV), Dilan Yesilgoz (VVD), Caroline van der Plas (BBB) and Pieter Omtzigt (NSC) pose during a press presentation of the main lines of the 26-page coalition cabinet agreement they reached earlier on May 16, 2024 in The Hague, Netherlands, after six months of gruelling talks between four parties following the stunning PVV election victory. (Photo by KOEN VAN WEEL/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)
Wilders will not serve as prime minister in the new government. He said, however, that “My party will be at the center of power. It makes us enormously proud.”
Wilders stunned Europe’s mainstream parties when he secured 25% of the national vote in the country’s November election.
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Alan Mendoza, the executive director of the London-based The Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that “The formation of this particular government is of huge importance as it suggests that mainstream Dutch parties have given up trying to prevent populists from being in power and will now respect their vote share. This will be transformative across Europe given the political mood shift within the E.U., and reflects the political class finally accepting that voters’ concerns are real and must be accommodated.”
Mendoza, who closely monitors European politics, added, “It remains to be seen if a real difference can be made in the areas of immigration and radical Islam. However, as liberal vested interests in EU countries have a long history of frustrating attempts by others to adopt common sense policies in both fields.”
Muslims perform Eid al-Adha prayer at the Essalam Mosque in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on June 28, 2023. (Photo by Mouneb Taim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Wilders has backed away from some of his radical positions, including a ban on the Koran and mosques. He also withdrew his advocacy for a plan for the Netherlands to leave the EU, which was dubbed “Nexit” after Britain’s “Brexit” departure from the EU.
Wilders, the so-called “Dutch Donald Trump,” has now elevated himself to the kingpin role of Dutch politics in the northern European country of nearly 18 million people. Wilders’ party, along with the three other factions in the coalition, are also looking into the “appropriate timing” to relocate their embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital in Jerusalem.
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Police arrest some 125 protesters at a protest camp at the University of Amsterdam in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo InterVision)
Former President Trump moved America’s embassy to Jerusalem in 2018. The coalition will also introduce mandatory Holocaust education in the Dutch school system after outbreaks of antisemitism in support of the terrorist organization Hamas unfolded in Holland.
Wilder’s party formed a coalition with the conservative-liberal VVD, the centrist New Social Contract and the Farmer Citizens Movement (BBB). The coalition announced in its agreement that “An opt-out clause for European asylum and migration policies will be submitted as soon as possible to the European Commission.”
The umbrella organization for left-wing European parties, the Party of European Socialists, said about the new right-wing Dutch government, “As socialists, we condemn these very worrying developments.”
The socialists expressed solidarity with former Dutch politician Frans Timmermans, who is known as the “climate pope” for his codifying of rigid environmental goals within the EU.
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According to a London Times report, former EU Commissioner Timmermans said the Netherlands has ushered in “the dominance of a radical right-wing party” and “Wilders will be in the center of power. I find that very worrying.”
Timmermans noted, “This country that is so in need of reconciliation and building bridges is now putting someone at the center of power who has been dividing for 20 years.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.