The Dutch far-right politician plunged Geert Wilders has thrown his country’s political landscape into turmoil on Tuesday, with his party’s ministers pulling out of the ruling coalition over a dispute over an immigration crackdown.
Hours after Wilders, the leader of the government’s largest party, pulled out of the right-wing coalition over what he described as the coalition’s failure to support tougher immigration policies, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced his resignation.
“I have repeatedly told party leaders over the past few days that it would be unnecessary and irresponsible for the government to collapse, and we are facing serious national and international challenges that require us to be firm,” Schoof said after an emergency cabinet meeting following Wilders’ withdrawal.
After the meeting, Schoof visited King William Alexander to present him with the resignations of Wilders’ Freedom Party ministers.
Schoof’s 11-month-long administration is on record as one of the shortest-lived governments in Dutch political history.
Immigration crackdown
Wilders announced his decision on Tuesday morning in a letter after a brief meeting in parliament of the leaders of the four parties that make up the divided administration. Wilders blamed the government for its stance on immigration policies.
Justifying his position, Wilders said he had no choice but to withdraw from the coalition, as it did not support the stricter immigration policies he demanded.
“I supported a stricter asylum policy, not the collapse of the Netherlands,” Wilders told reporters. But coalition partners rejected this argument, saying they all support immigration crackdowns, and Wilders added that he will lead the Freedom Party to new elections, and hopes to be the next prime minister.
Wilders’ Party for Freedom continues to score high in Dutch opinion polls, although the gap with the center-left opposition is narrow.
Business
Ministers from Wilders’ Freedom Party will leave the government, while others will continue for the time being as caretaker ministers until new elections are organized.
The decision means that the Netherlands will retain a caretaker government when it hosts the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders’ summit (NATO) 3 weeks later.
Dylan Yesilgoz, leader of the right-wing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, said: “We appealed to the prime minister this morning, we are facing enormous international challenges, we have a war on our continent, we may face an economic crisis,” she said, adding “I am shocked,” calling Wilders’ decision “very irresponsible.”
A new election date has not been set and is unlikely before the fall, but there will likely be no election before October, and forming a new government usually takes months in the divided Dutch political landscape.
To the right
Anger over immigration and the rising cost of living have fueled the extreme right and increasing divisions in Europe.
After years in opposition, Wilders’ party won the last election on a promise to cut immigration. He has grown increasingly frustrated with what he sees as slow coalition efforts to implement his plans.
Wilders last week demanded that his coalition partners sign a 10-point plan to drastically reduce immigration, including using the military to guard land borders and rejecting all asylum seekers. He said at the time that if immigration policy was not tightened, his party would “pull out of the government.”
The right-wing politician made good on his promise on Tuesday, days after conservative Karol Nawrocki was declared the winner of the run-off of Poland’s weekend presidential election.
Nawrocki’s victory indicates that Poland is likely to take a more populist and nationalist path under its new president, who has been backed by the US president Donald Trump.
This is not the first time Wilders has turned his back on authority. He previously pledged to support a minority government led by former Prime Minister Mark Rutte in 2010, but withdrew less than two years later following a disagreement over government austerity measures.
Vague aspirations
Other leaders in the ruling coalition are looking forward to an uncertain political future. Caroline van der Plas, leader of the Farmers and Citizens Movement, said Populism which is part of the coalition, said she was outraged by Wilders’ decision. “He doesn’t put the Netherlands first, he puts Geert Wilders first,” she said.
Nicoline van Vroonhoven, leader of the New Social Contract party, which has taken a hit in the polls since joining the coalition and the departure of its iconic leader Peter Umtzigt, said “the government can continue without Wilders,” adding that a minority government is “definitely an option.”
Frans Timmermans, the former head of the European Commission’s climate commission, who now leads the main opposition bloc in parliament with Wilders’ decision, said he would not support a minority government and called for new elections as soon as possible.
“I think it’s an opportunity for all democratic parties to get rid of extremism,” he told the Associated Press, “it’s clear that with extremism you can’t govern. “When things go wrong, they run away.
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2025-06-03 16:56:00
