In the Netherlands, the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) led by Geert Wilders is leaving the ruling coalition. The move, announced by Wilders on 3 June, is likely to lead to the collapse of the current government and is expected to lead to early elections in the Netherlands.
Wilders’ decision was a reaction to coalition partners’ refusal to back his proposals for tougher migration policies, including a complete halt to asylum applications.
“Our plans to limit refugee admissions have not received support. None of the partners are willing to sign them. Under these circumstances, the PVV is leaving the coalition,” Wilders wrote on social network X after a meeting in parliament of the leaders of the four parties that make up the coalition.
He added that he had informed Prime Minister Dick Schoof that all ministers from the Freedom Party would leave the government. Schoof has not yet commented on the situation.
The government formed in July 2024 was initially unstable. New elections are likely to be called in the coming months. Political uncertainty is heightened at a time when the Netherlands is expected to make a key decision to increase defence spending as part of new NATO targets. In addition, the country risks being left with an Interim Government ahead of an important NATO summit in The Hague at the end of June.
Coalition partners reacted to Wilders’ decision with sharp criticism. In particular, People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) leader Dylan Yesilges wrote in X that “Wilders is putting his own interests above the interests of the country in times of unprecedented uncertainty.”
Formally, the remaining three parties could try to continue as a minority government, but this scenario is being called unlikely.
Wilders has insisted on a complete closure of refugee reception, the return of Syrian migrants to their country and the dismantling of migrant reception centres. Coalition partners rejected his demands, saying that the relevant initiatives should be developed by the migration minister, a representative of the PVV itself. Wilders is not a member of the government and had previously abandoned his claim to be prime minister to ensure a coalition with the other three parties.
Wilders’ Freedom Party, considered a radical by many in the Netherlands because of his harsh anti-migrant statements, won a landslide victory in the November 2023 elections, but it and its right-wing allies did not have enough votes in parliament to form a government. Therefore, Wilders’ supporters began negotiations with centre-right pro-European political forces.