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PoliticsNetherlands

Netherlands: Right-wing parties to form government

May 15, 2024

Far-right populist Geert Wilders has said the leaders of four right-wing Dutch parties have reached agreement on forming a coalition government. Wilders himself will not be prime minister.

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Geert Wilders of the PVV
Geert Wilders has been trying to find governing partners since winning a surprise electoral victory six-months agoImage: Sem van der Wal/ANP/IMAGO

Far-right Dutch firebrand Geert Wilders on Wednesday announced that he and the leaders of three right-wing parties have finally come to agreement over the formation of a coalition government.

Speaking in The Hague, Wilders, who will not serve as prime minister, said, "We have a negotiators' agreement and we will return to the position of prime minister at a later moment."

It is widely thought that such a candidate will be a technocrat from outside the political system. 

Wilders had long desired the job but was seen as too risky to be a national leader, hence he has put his career ambitions to the side in exchange for advancing his agenda.

Government six months in the making

The staunchly anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) won a shock victory in the Netherlands' parliamentary elections six months ago — taking 37 of the body's 150 seats — but had been unable to form a government.

The new coalition will include outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte's liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, Pieter Omtzigt's conservative New Social Contract (NSC) and the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB).

No further details on the agreement to govern Europe's fifth-largest economy have been made public as yet. 

Far-right populist Geert Wilders wins big in Dutch elections

js/lo (AFP, dpa)