Tuesday

5th Dec 2023

Dutch PM: coalition with Wilders 'not going to happen'

  • Mark Rutte said a coalition with Wilders has a probability of "zero" (Photo: Minister-president Rutte)

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has ruled out participating in a government with far-right leader Geert Wilders, making it less likely that Wilders becomes prime minister after elections on 15 March.

“That is not going to happen,” Rutte told the weekly political TV programme Buitenhof on Sunday (15 January)

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

He said the chance that his Liberal VVD party would enter a coalition with Wilders's anti-EU PVV party was “zero”.

It was his strongest statement ruling out a coalition with Wilders to date.

Wilders is unlikely to become prime minister unless his party gets an absolute majority. They are projected to get between 33 to 36 seats, far short of the 76 seats needed.

Since the introduction of proportional representation in the Netherlands in 1918, no single party has ever acquired an absolute majority.

That has become even less likely in the past two decades, which have seen an increased fragmentation in the Dutch political spectrum.

The 2012 Lower House elections gave seats to 11 parties, but after breakaways there are currently 17 different groups – many of them now are vying to be elected on their own merits.

There have also been a number of new political parties that emerged after the Dutch referendum on the EU-Ukraine treaty

A total of 82 parties have registered with the electoral council, although in practice usually only half of the registered parties follow through.

The Electoral Council was recently asked to design a new ballot paper to fit more than 32 parties.

Current opinion polls suggest any prospective coalition might need four or five parties to make up a majority.

Most other major political leaders have excluded working with Wilders, because his views are so far from their own. Only the populist 50Plus party for the elderly has left the door open.

On Tuesday (17 January), its leader Henk Krol wrote in an opinion piece explaining why his party would not rule out Wilders before the elections.

Excluding Wilders "will only motivate" his voters and lead to more votes. "50Plus does not want to help [Wilders party] gain more votes," Krol wrote in de Volkskrant newspaper.

It is possible that Rutte could stand down as party leader after the election, opening the door to a coalition involving his party and the PVV.

This is what Wilders would want.

The far-right MP said on Sunday that Rutte's statement excluding his party was “an offence to millions of voters and smells of dictatorship”.

However, Wilders himself made a similar statement one year ago, when he said his party would only cooperate with the Liberals if Rutte stepped down as party leader.

The two politicians previously worked together in 2010, when Wilders' party supported Rutte's centre-right minority government. However, that relationship soured after Wilders pulled the plug on that informal coalition when he did not want to support the proposed budget.

Far-right groups pledge allegiance ahead of elections

Far-right leaders Le Pen, Wilders, Petry and others gathered in Koblenz in the hope of gaining political momentum ahead of national elections this year. The event was met with thousands of protestors.

Opinion

Can Green Deal survive the 2024 European election?

Six months ahead of the EU elections, knocking an 'elitist' climate agenda is looking like a vote-winner to some. Saving the Green Deal and the EU's climate ambitions starts with listening to Europeans who are struggling to make ends meet.

Latest News

  1. EU nears deal to fingerprint six year-old asylum seekers
  2. Orbán's Ukraine-veto threat escalates ahead of EU summit
  3. Can Green Deal survive the 2024 European election?
  4. Protecting workers' rights throughout the AI revolution
  5. Russia, the West, and the geopolitical 'touch-move rule'
  6. Afghanistan is a 'forever emergency,' says UN head
  7. EU public procurement reform 'ineffective', find auditors
  8. COP28 warned over-relying on carbon capture costs €27 trillion

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us