The center-right in the Netherlands changes its strategy regarding the far right of Geert Wilders. In an interview with the newspaper De Telegraaf, its leader, Dilan Yesilgöz, has rejected any kind of agreement with the Islamophobic ultra who broke the coalition government last week, leading the country back to new elections. The reason is that he is "an incredibly unreliable partner," in the words of the leader of the People's Party for Freedom (VVD).
The VVD always refused to negotiate any government agreement with Wilders while led by Mark Rutte, now Secretary General of NATO. But in 2023, on the eve of the November elections, Yesilgöz opened the door to a pact with the Party for Freedom (PVV). In the last week of the campaign, Wilders surged in the polls and ended up winning the elections.
The negotiations in the following months were very tough. The three parties that negotiated with the PVV, the majority force, took over six months to reach a coalition agreement, which they finally closed on the eve of the summer of 2024. However, 11 months later, the far-right leader blew up the government because the other parties, he claimed, did not allow him to implement "the most restrictive immigration policy in history."
In her interview this Tuesday, Yesilgöz is very harsh on Wilders, with whom she competes for part of the same electorate, and concludes that the far-right leader "will never take on the responsibility of leading the country" because "he puts his personal interest above national interest." "This country needs mature leadership. We will not work with him anymore," she stated.
Subsequently, she was even harsher when addressing her supporters on her party's website: "Wilders' style has always been to leave like a coward." "As far as I'm concerned, Wilders has excluded himself from the government. Once again, he has wasted his opportunity and disappointed his voters," she added.
Yesilgöz's shift aims to secure the right and center's strategic vote by once again excluding the Party for Freedom from any government formula and trying to position herself as an alternative to the center-left leader, Frans Timmermans, former Vice President of the European Commission.
Wilders: "That means more Islam"
In fact, Wilders has accused her, after hearing her statements, of aligning with the left and wanting to govern with Timmermans. The VVD is not ruling out a grand coalition model like Germany, the neighboring state and always a reference for the Netherlands.
On social media, Wilders has accused Yesilgöz of "wanting to destroy the Netherlands with the left." And that "means even more asylum seekers and more Islam," he added.
However, Yesilgöz states in the interview that there will be other government formulas without the need to pact, neither with the PVV nor with GroenLinks-PvdA, the left-wing coalition of the social democrat Timmermans. With this move, the center-right leader aims to turn around the polls, which in recent days were polarizing the results between Wilders and Timmermans, showing both as practically tied.