The Netherlands Gets New Government Dominated By Party Of Geert Wilders

Anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders and three other party leaders agreed on a coalition deal early that veers the Netherlands toward the hard right, capping a half-year of tumultuous negotiations that still left it unclear who would become prime minister, Molly Quell and Rad Casert reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Wilders has already reluctantly acknowledged that he will not succeed Rutte at the country’s helm. I Photo: Prachatai Flickr

The “Hope, Courage, and Pride” agreement introduces strict measures on asylum seekers, scraps family reunification for refugees, and seeks to reduce the number of international students studying in the country.

“Deport people without a valid residence permit as much as possible, even forcibly,” the 26-page document says.

“We are writing history today,” Wilders proclaimed, saying he had made sure the three other coalition parties, including the one of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, had accepted the core of his program.

“My party will be at the center of power. It makes us enormously proud,” Wilders said. He had to make personal compromises, though. Wilders has already reluctantly acknowledged that he will not succeed Rutte at the country’s helm.

The parties still have to agree on a prime minister, who is expected to be a technocrat from outside the party structures.

With hard-right and populist parties now part of or leading a half dozen governments in the 27-nation European Union, they appear positioned to make gains in the bloc’s June 6-9 election.