Saturday

1st Apr 2023

Netherlands in limbo after split election result

The Netherlands faces difficult coalition talks and potential complications for its position on the EU stage after Wednesday's elections saw huge gains for leftists and the far-right, with prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende scoring a victory over Labour.

Although polls had been pointing to a last-minute neck and neck race between Mr Balkenende's Christian Democrats and the opposition Labour party, results with almost all votes counted showed the Christian Democrats far ahead winning 41 seats compared to Labour with 32.

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

"We've said so many times - we go for gold - and we have got the gold," said Mr Balkenende despite losing three seats compared to the 2003 elections.

Labour lost a shock number of ten seats - primarily to the leftist Socialist Party which jumped hugely from nine to 26 seats and which is broadly identified as the real victor of Wednesday's poll.

Meanwhile, far-right politician Geert Wilders gained an unexpectedly high number of nine seats having run a campaign with strong anti-immigration tones.

Mr Wilders' gains came primarily at the expense of his former party - the Liberals - which lost six seats and which are now unlikely to return as a centre-right coalition party of Mr Balkenende.

Meanwhile, among the smaller parties, the left-liberal D66 were marginalized and the protestant Christian Union doubled its support, while the Party for the Animals entered parliament for the first time with two seats.

Grand coalition-plus?

Observers see the upcoming coalition-building as extremely difficult, with both centre-right and centre-left options falling far short of a parliamentary majority.

Dutch Liberal MEP Jan Mulder told EUobserver on the election night that "it will be extremely difficult to form a government and if there is a government, I am not sure it will prove to be stable. If there is no stable government in the Netherlands, that is also bad for the position of the Netherlands in Europe."

Not even a German-style "grand coalition" government of Christian Democrats and Labour - who fought each other bitterly in the campaign - would get enough seats for a majority, but it is seen as the only basis on which a workable government could be built with the help of a third party.

This third party could be either the Christian Union or the Socialist Party, a post-election TV debate indicated on Wednesday.

MEP Hans Blokland said his own party, the Christian Union, is the "most obvious" candidate to help a Christian Democrat-Labour government to a majority, adding however that "these will be long, difficult negotiations."

Labour however seems to favour the Socialist Party as a third partner for the coalition talks - a scenario which does not find favour with most Christian Democrats who see the Socialists as extreme-left, populist and anti-European.

Meanwhile, some commentators are worried that any coalition talks will fail, or that a new coalition will soon break up due to internal strife.

EU constitution talks

Former European Commissioner and Christian Democrat Frans Andriessen told EUobserver he is downbeat on the consequences of the Dutch vote for the Netherlands' position in the EU, ahead of expected re-negotiations of the EU constitution due to kick off next year.

He highlighted that both parties mooted as potential entrants to a new government - the Socialists and the Christian Union - campaigned on the "no" side of the failed referendum on the constitution, saying the Socialist party "has been leading in the rejection of the constitutional treaty and it never sketched any acceptable European alternative." The Christian Union is "not exactly enthusiastic about Europe either," he added.

"I'm afraid that with this outcome, it will not be that easy to take up a strong position in the negotiations [on a new treaty] which will be inevitable. We together with France have said "njet," but so far we haven't made any contribution to solve this problem," he said.

But the Christian Union's Mr Blokland said his party is "ready to talk about changes to the [current EU] Nice treaty," adding, however, that these changes should "respect the sovereignty of member states" and "not obstruct citizens and business."

Exclusive

Aid agencies clam up in Congo sex-for-work scandal

The European Commission has 25 documents, including emails, in its possession that contains "information about potential crimes" involving aid agency staff in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. EUobserver received a partial disclosure of the documents.

Opinion

Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?

More than 50 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, large parts of its transport network and industrial capacity, around 150,000 residential buildings damaged or destroyed. The bill is between €378bn to €919bn.

Firms will have to reveal and close gender pay-gap

Employers will no longer be able to hide behind secret contracts to disguise how much less they pay women than men for the same work, due to new EU law. Countries will have three years to transpose the new rules.

Opinion

Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?

As autocracies collapsed across Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, Albanians had high expectations that democracy and a free-market economy would bring a better life. But Albania's transition from dictatorship to democracy has been uneven and incomplete.

Exclusive

Aid agencies clam up in Congo sex-for-work scandal

The European Commission has 25 documents, including emails, in its possession that contains "information about potential crimes" involving aid agency staff in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. EUobserver received a partial disclosure of the documents.

Opinion

Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?

More than 50 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, large parts of its transport network and industrial capacity, around 150,000 residential buildings damaged or destroyed. The bill is between €378bn to €919bn.

Latest News

  1. EU to press South Korea on arming Ukraine
  2. Aid agencies clam up in Congo sex-for-work scandal
  3. Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?
  4. EU sending anti-coup mission to Moldova in May
  5. Firms will have to reveal and close gender pay-gap
  6. Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?
  7. Police violence in rural French water demos sparks protests
  8. Work insecurity: the high cost of ultra-fast grocery deliveries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains
  2. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  3. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us