Dutch government wobbling as far-right Wilders exits over asylum crackdown

Fractious coalition at risk of collapse after 11 months as PVV engineers row over immigration.

The Dutch coalition government is on the brink of collapse after far-right firebrand Geert Wilders has withdrawn his party’s support in a row over immigration.

Wilders said on Tuesday that his Party for Freedom (PVV) had pulled out of the right-wing coalition, led by Prime Minister Dick Schoof, because its three partners had failed to back his policies to crack down on asylum. The move is likely to spark early elections.

“No signature under our asylum plans. The PVV leaves the coalition,” the PVV leader said in a post on X after a short meeting in parliament of party leaders.

Schoof has not publicly responded, but he has called an emergency cabinet meeting.

‘Irresponsible’

The coalition, which has consistently struggled to reach consensus since coming to power in July, could try to carry on as a minority administration.

However, that option is thought to be unlikely, and the Netherlands looks set to play host to a summit of NATO leaders in The Hague, scheduled in three weeks, with a caretaker government in place.

Wilders’s coalition partners accused him of putting his own political interests ahead of the country’s at a critical moment for Europe.

Dilan Yesilgoz, leader of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, says she was ‘shocked’ by Wilders’s move [Peter Dejong/AP]

“There is a war on our continent. Instead of meeting the challenge, Wilders is showing he is not willing to take responsibility,” said Dilan Yesilgoz, leader of the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy.

“It is irresponsible to take down the government at this point,” Nicolien van Vroonhoven, leader of the centrist New Social Contract, said of the flamboyant far-right figure.

Opposition leader Frans Timmermans, head of the Labour/Green Left alliance, said he could “see no other way to form a stable government” than early elections.

‘Downfall of the Netherlands’

After years in opposition, the PVV won the most votes in the November 2023 elections at 23 percent by tapping into Europe’s rising populist tide with promises to fight immigration.

However, Wilders failed to win support to become prime minister, and Schoof, an unelected career bureaucrat, emerged as a compromise candidate. Wilders held no ministerial post.

Wilders has repeatedly criticised the coalition for failing to implement his party’s immigration proposals.

Meanwhile, although support for the PVV has remained strong in the polls, it has slipped to about 20 percent, putting it level with the opposition Labour/Green Left alliance.

Last week, Wilders demanded the coalition endorse a 10-point plan to slash immigration, including refusing all asylum requests and mobilising the army to patrol Dutch borders.

“I signed up for the toughest asylum policy and not the downfall of the Netherlands,” Wilders told reporters on Tuesday as he explained his exit.

The move comes days after nationalist conservative Karol Nawrocki was announced the winner of Poland’s presidential election, providing a boost for right-wing populists across Europe.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies