By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (Worthy News) – The Netherlands’ anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) is leaving the government after three smaller coalition partners declined to sign up to a stricter anti-migration policy, its leader Geert Wilders said Tuesday.
His announcement meant the likely fall of the cabinet, which came to power after elections in which migration played an important role.
Wilders fears “the Islamization of the Netherlands and Europe” and growing social tensions between migrants and native Dutch people, fueled in part by religious differences as well as a housing crisis.
“No signature for our asylum plans. No adjustment to the Outline Agreement [that forms the basis of government]. PVV leaves the coalition,” he wrote on social media.
Over the last year, 130,000 new migrants arrived in the Netherlands, many from Muslim nations, as well as other countries, according to official data.
Wilders and several experts argue that the Netherlands, a small seafaring nation of some 18 million people, can’t cope with the ongoing influx.
While the left-wing opposition was already preparing for new elections, three coalition partners expressed astonishment over Wilders’ decision.
CONDEMNING MOVE
The agrarian populist Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB), the conservative-liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the center-right New Social Contract (NSC) all condemned the move.
Tuskish-born VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz says she was “Appalled that someone can be so self-centered.”
She added, “It’s not about the content or the interests of the Netherlands for him. This is someone who doesn’t want to take responsibility.”
Yesilgöz said there are “high costs for Dutch citizens, and there is a war on our continent. I am truly appalled that someone can be self-centered and abandon their voters like this.”
The leader of NSC, which will likely lost most, if not all, its 20 seats in Parliament in new elections, still saw possibilities for a minority government. “It is an option, but there are other options,” stressed NSC leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven.
However, BBB leader Caroline van der Plas said that “the coalition is finished. He [Wilders] put himself first, and I hold that against him.” Van der Plas zegt boos te zijn op Leader Wilders. “He puts himself first, and I hold that against him.”
However, Wilders defended his decision surrounded by an army of camera crews and reporters. “The PVV promised voters the strictest asylum policy ever,” he said in an initial reaction. “I presented a plan and asked the coalition partners to sign it. They didn’t do that. So, I had no choice but to withdraw our support. I have informed the Prime Minister [Dick Schoof] that we are pulling PVV ministers out of the cabinet.”
TURBULENT TIME
It meant an and of a turbulent coalition period. The cabinet was formed after early parliamentary elections in the Netherlands in November 2023.
The vote had been expected to occur in 2025, but a snap election was called after the fourth cabinet of then-Prime Minister Mark Rutte collapsed in July 2023 due to disagreements between the coalition parties on immigration policies.
Rutte later became the secretary-general of the NATO military alliance.
With the collapse of the government imminent, questions were raised about how the Netherlands would deal with the ongoing migration issue while a war was raging in Ukraine.
The announcement also comes just weeks before the Netherlands hosts the 2025 The Hague summit of the government leaders and heads of state of the 32 NATO member states, their partner countries, and the European Union.
The June 24-26 gathering in The Hague, described as an organizational nightmare for police, will be the first NATO summit led by Rutte, who took over as NATO secretary general of Jens Stoltenberg, who served in that role for over a decade.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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