Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Geert Wilders

  • Rutte Cautions Against Populist “Experiment” in Netherlands

    Mark Rutte
    Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte answers questions from members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, July 5, 2016 (European Parliament)

    Two days before parliamentary elections, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has reiterated his opposition to a pact with the nationalist Freedom Party, telling Geert Wilders in person that the two will “never” work together again.

    Earlier on Monday, Rutte urged voters not to let the Netherlands become the “third domino” that falls to populism after Britain voted to leave the European Union and America elected Donald Trump.

    “This is not the time to experiment,” he told reporters in Rotterdam. (more…)

  • Geert Wilders Isn’t Really Interested in Governing

    Geert Wilders
    Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders gives a news conference in Brussels, June 16, 2015 (European Parliament)

    The absence of a serious manifesto did not suggest that the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders had any intention of governing after the election on Wednesday. Now two former elected officials of his Freedom Party have confirmed that he isn’t interested in power — especially the responsibility that comes with it.

    Jhim van Bemmel, who sat in parliament from 2010 to 2012, told the broadcaster Human that Wilders pulled out of accord with center-right parties that year for fear of losing popularity.

    For two years, Wilders had supported a minority government led by his center-right rival, Mark Rutte. He walked out when the ruling parties proposed more austerity.

    Wilders to this day maintains that he quit in order to protect pensioners from cuts. Van Bemmel disputed that assertion as “total nonsense”.

    Other Freedom Party dissidents have made similar claims. (more…)

  • Invisible and Unhinged, Wilders Loses Support in Netherlands

    Geert Wilders
    Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders gives a news conference in Brussels, June 16, 2015 (European Parliament)

    Geert Wilders’ strategy of not showing up isn’t doing his Freedom Party much good.

    Support for the party, which wants to take the Netherlands out of the European Union and stop immigration from Muslim countries, has gone down in the polls from a 21-percent high in December to 16 percent today.

    Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s liberals are on track to surpass the Freedom Party as the single largest. In some surveys, they already have.

    Even if the Freedom Party does place first, it is unlikely to join a coalition government. All other major parties have ruled out an accord. (more…)

  • Dutch Freedom Party Leader Cancels Second Election Debate

    Are all populists thin-skinned?

    The Dutch Donald Trump, Geert Wilders, canceled his participation in an election debate organized by RTL in two weeks’ time after its news division published an interview with the politician’s older brother on Sunday.

    The Freedom Party leader called the interview “incredibly vile,” but his brother hasn’t exactly shied away from the media. He even contributed to a left-wing opinion website for a while.

    In the interview, Paul Wilders criticizes his brother’s take-no-prisoners mentality.

    He also laments that the two have barely spoken since Paul started speaking out against the Freedom Party’s nativist policies. (more…)

  • Wilders’ Negativity an Opportunity for Optimist Rutte

    Mark Rutte
    Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte listens to a debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, January 20 (European Parliament)

    Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders may have just dictated the terms on which the Dutch election next year will be fought — and under which his rival, the incumbent prime minister Mark Rutte, is more likely to be prevail.

    I wrote earlier this year that echoes of America’s presidential election could be heard in the Netherlands: Wilders shares an under-siege rhetoric and unceremonious style of politics with Donald Trump; Rutte, like Hillary Clinton, celebrates the country the Netherlands is, rather than it used to be, and represents consensus and a respect for political norms.

    Those differences were driven home last week, when Wilders was found guilty of inciting discrimination by a panel of three judges for promising “fewer Moroccans” in the city of The Hague. (more…)

  • Netherlands’ Wilders Attacks Court After Discrimination Verdict

    Dutch nationalist party leader Geert Wilders has attacked the judges who found him guilty of inciting discrimination on Friday and vowed to appeal the verdict.

    The controversial right-wing politician dismissed the panel of judges as “Freedom Party haters” who convicted “half the Netherlands” along with him.

    He previously called the proceedings a show trial and said he would not tone down his rhetoric whatever the outcome.

    “People who want to stop me will have to kill me,” he said.

    Wilders has lived under constant protection for twelve years. (more…)

  • Trump’s European Admirers Are Deluding Themselves

    Donald Trump’s unexpected presidential election in the United States has delighted his ideological counterparts in Europe. Brexiteers in the United Kingdom think he will give them a better deal than Hillary Clinton. Populists in France and the Netherlands have responded to Trump’s victory with glee. So have ultraconservatives in Central Europe.

    They should think again. Trump may be a kindred spirit. His triumph is a setback for the liberal consensus that nationalists in Europe and North America are trying to tear down. But he is no friend of European nations. (more…)

  • Echoes of Clinton-Trump Contest in the Netherlands

    Mark Rutte
    Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte answers questions from members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, July 5 (European Parliament)

    Tom-Jan Meeus has a good piece in Politico about the state of Dutch politics five months out from the next election.

    Meeus, who is a political columnist and former United States correspondent for NRC Handelsblad, argues that there is a American influence on this election: Should Donald Trump win in November, Meeus expects his Dutch counterpart, Geert Wilders, will shift further to the right. Mark Rutte, the incumbent center-right prime minister, could benefit if Hillary Clinton prevails.

    This probably oversells the effect of America’s elections on the Netherlands’, but Meeuw is onto something. (more…)