A hardline anti-EU advocate that calls for a “sovereign Netherlands,” Geert Wilders and his far-right PVV Freedom Party just won the Dutch elections and captured 37 seats in the Dutch parliament.
Wilders and his party ran under an anti-immigrant banner – anti-Islamic in particular – and rejected the idea of a singular European body, instead advocating for “a Netherlands that is in charge of its own currency, its own borders and makes its own rules.”
While the anti-immigration with its anti-Islamic stance will likely have an effect on immigrants and refugees from Africa and Asia, its impact on Ukrainian refugees in the Netherlands remains uncertain.
His party also called for a referendum for the Netherlands to leave the EU and stop contributing financially to the union prior to the referendum. It also rejected further EU expansion and wished to restore its veto power in Brussels.
As Ukraine’s EU negotiations are bound to start soon, Wilders’ victory could be a stumbling block to Ukraine’s chances of gaining a secured foothold in the upcoming negotiations.
The Netherlands has also been one of Ukraine’s biggest military partners since the invasion began.
The Netherlands – alongside Denmark – was the first to provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, a move that could drastically change the dynamics of the battlefield as the war is becoming a stalemate unless a technical breakthrough could be achieved, as per an earlier statement by Ukraine’s top commander.
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As Wilders and his parties have long been opposed to military aid to Ukraine, their victory could also affect Ukraine’s ability to defend against Russia. However, the circumstances on military aid remain uncertain as the PVV still needs to form a coalition government and none of the other parties are opposed to military support to Ukraine.
One potential scenario could be that the Dutch government will continue to provide military aid and financial aid to Ukraine but at a reduced rate.
While Wilders has previously condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he also said the West should have blocked Ukraine from potentially joining NATO.
In an X (formerly Twitter) update on Feb. 24, 2022, the day the full-scale invasion started, he also rejected military aid to Ukraine with a comment saying: “Do not let Dutch households pay the price for a war that is not ours.”
He also said “sanctions are ineffective and also bad for the Netherlands” in another X update. In 2016, Wilders and his party said “no” to the Association Treaty between Ukraine and the EU.
Wilders and the PVV’s victory is the latest in a series of victories with an anti-Western stance that have swept over the EU, following the victory of pro-Russian populist Robert Fico in Slovakia.
Alongside Hungary, a staunch EU critic, there are now more diverse forces at play in the EU that could threaten the long-term stability of the political union.
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Comments (5)
No it won't, he said he put his harsh points in the fridge to make a colation possible contrary the coalitions from last 13 rutte years
First of all Maddy, NATO isn't at war with Russia.
Do you see any soldiers from NATO countries on the front.
No, you don't. You only write lies and you are propagandist
for Russia. Your words means nothing.
If NATO was at war with Russia, do you really believe the
Russians would still been Ukraine. No you would seen Russia
been behind their own borders, Stop invading other countries.
And Maddy the more shit you write, the more I know Russia is
losing. I just really hope that the rest of the former soviet union
nations realize that if they want Russia off their back. The time is
now, Russia will crumble and fall. No matter how many other wars
they try to start. Russia is the instigator between Israel and Hamas.
So you can shove your pathic comments somewhere the sun don't
shine.
I don´t think things are going to change for the worse for Ukraine because of this outcome. The coalition they need to negotiate means that they will have to change part of their promises, and reducing support for Ukraine doesn´t seem popular among the Dutch majority. It may be good if in the end Brussels begins to understand that most Europeans are fed up with bureaucrats than take years in doing nothing. Talking about inmigration and doing nothing is probably one of the most important subjects. Many inmigrants, probably a clear majority, enter EU to work, and the EU needs them, but there are also quite a lot of them that come to abuse the generous welfare state, and that is a problem all around EU. In Spain we need the inmigrants that come to work, but there is neither control over them nor procedures to teach them the knowledge they need for those jobs. Just bureaucracy... As for leaving the EU, with the awful experience from Britain, in a referendum the majority would say No.
A lot of bad news. Time for peace and negotiations. Frozen conflict looks like most realistic scenario.
The less intelligent masses can always be manipulated into letting their xenophobia come to the fore. Migrants are such a convenient scapegoat for the housing crisis after all. Why there aren't any politicians playing into, a much more realistic, potential fear of Russia is beyond me. I was feeling quite proud of my country's support of Ukraine so far. Now I feel shame that, we too, succumbed to this growing trend of idiocy.
@Dutchy, thats not what the majority dutch ppl tell to you, they are tired of brownies and kebab that stinks in the cities. f*** n*ggrs are looting EUrope while you speak blindfolded.
@S Wolfskin, your comments sounds very racist,and I wonder your problems with brownies,blacks and kebabs.Seriously,just see the colour of Balkan and Southern european.Looks more like brown to me.And legal immigrants are not much Of these people,who even get benefit.Rather either it is refugees or those who took asylum.Legal immigrants either come work and after retire,go back to their nation or get assimilated. My own country india,has become dumpyard of migrants,and even Africans are given st status.Most of them comes as student,or business.we just have problem with crimes,otherwise we have no issue with them.
@Sunny, @Sunny, @Sunny, the raysssit label is what leading Europe to chaos, and why Wilders WON big time and the rest of the countries will follow suit. Yes i do have issues w stinky kebab and dark prison population,haha u comparing Balkan pennisula to these m.onkeys?? the region is an example of what West Europe should be ,India should build more toilets and Europeans should wake up and get rid of these m.onkeys before its to late. if they dont? dont worry nuclear war is closer than ever.