After his surprise election victory, but without a majority in parliament, Wilders appointed a politician to try to liaise between party leaders and determine government options.
Ronald Plasterk, former Minister of the Interior and of Education, Culture and Science, has spoken intensively with Wilders and other right-wing party leaders, who are reluctant to join a coalition because of the radical views of the winner of the Dutch House of Representatives. held in November.
In the Dutch political system, which is highly fragmented and in which no party is usually strong enough to govern alone, elections are usually followed by months of negotiations about the formation of an executive branch.
Plasterk recommended first appointing a person to oversee the negotiations to see if Wilders’ four preferred parties can agree on a “common basis for guaranteeing the constitution, fundamental rights and the democratic rule of law.”
If doubts about Wilders’ commitment to upholding the Constitution can be overcome, the parties can move on to the next step: examining five key policy areas.
These are immigration, social policy (including the cost of living and healthcare), good governance and the stability of public finances, foreign policy and climate and environmental policy.
The talks are expected to take place in December and January and a new report will be presented to parliament “no later than early February”, Plasterk’s document said.
The parties will then discuss the substantive issues and agree on policies that could shape a possible coalition agreement.
When asked by journalists whether the parties could overcome their differences, Plasterk replied: “I think they can and I even think they should.”
“The country must be governed,” he added, also emphasizing that the various parties he spoke to believe that “it would not be acceptable” to have to organize new elections.
In the November 22 elections, Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) won 37 seats in the House of Representatives, much more than polls predicted, but the Party needs the support of 76 of the 150 deputies in parliament to win. can rule. it is looking for partners to build a majority coalition, as is common in the Netherlands.
Plasterk said that Wilders should hold coalition talks with the New Social Contract, a reformist party that was founded in the summer and won twenty seats, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), led by outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and the Boeren- Citizen movement. (BBB).
Together the four parties have 88 seats – a comfortable majority in the Chamber of Deputies. However, they do not have a majority in the Senate.
Coalition negotiations will be complicated as the parties must overcome significant ideological differences if they want to form the next governing cabinet.
The PVV’s election manifesto provides for a ‘Nexit’, a departure of the Netherlands from the European Union, a ban on mosques and the Islamic veil, and the interruption of arms supplies to Ukraine.
“No one has to be afraid of us,” Wilders told reporters last week during the inauguration of the new deputies.
During the negotiations, Mark Rutte will remain Prime Minister.
His last government fell last summer amid infighting over immigration and later announced he would leave politics after a record 13 years in office.
It took 271 days to form Rutte’s last cabinet, another record.
Source: DN
