Geert Wilders has said he will pull his far-right Freedom Party out of the Netherlands’ 10-month-old right-wing coalition government unless his political partners agree “within weeks” to much tougher restrictions on immigration.
Speaking at a press conference to announce a 10-point proposal to hold the coalition together, Mr Wilders said: “We’ve made enough concessions. If nothing changes, or not enough, we’ll be gone.”
After a general election in November 2023, the Freedom Party was returned as the country’s largest party, with 37 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
Last July, Mr Wilders agreed a four-party deal with the centre-right VVD, the fledgling farmers’ party BBB, and the progressive New Social Contract, whose founder Pieter Omtzigt has since left politics with “burnout”.
In an unusual decision, Mr Wilders and the other party leaders agreed not to compete for the job of prime minister or to take ministerial posts, but to sit as MPs only. Dick Schoof, former head of the country’s security service, agreed to become premier.
In an environment in which the country’s immigration services could not cope with the numbers of people arriving, the new government’s headline promise was to introduce “the toughest immigration regime in the Netherlands’ history”.
However, the coalition has been riven by infighting about reforms that would allow Freedom Party asylum minister, Marjolein Faber, to cut €3.5 billion from the immigration and asylum budget, as agreed by the parties in September.
Ms Faber’s three reform drafts were each roundly criticised by the council of state, the government’s legal adviser.
A proposal to create a two-tier immigration system, separating those fleeing war zones from others, was rejected by the justice ministry and separately by the immigration service, IND.
From next year the Netherlands will be obliged to implement the EU Asylum and Migration Pact, which will inevitably lead to tensions with Brussels.
In his 10-point plan, Mr Wilders says he wants EU country quotas for asylum seekers suspended immediately. He wants the Dutch army to “secure” and patrol its borders.
In addition, all Syrian refugees should be sent home, he says. Refugees already granted visas should be “evicted” from reception centres, even without alternative accommodation in a country with an acute housing shortage.
In 2012, Mr Wilders withdrew his support from the opposition benches for Mark Rutte’s first VVD-led coalition after 558 days, permanently damaging trust between the two leaders.
