Dutch elections: have the liberals ended the Wilders era? Last week’s Dutch elections ended in a neck-and-neck race between Rob Jetten’s liberal party D66, and the right-wing PVV of Geert Wilders. In the end, by just a few thousand votes, D66 became the biggest party. Liberal newspapers and politicians around Europe have hailed these results as the return of the ‘centre-ground’ and a defeat for ‘populism’. But is this really the case?
Netherlands: government collapses as Wilders withdraws After only 11 months, the Dutch government of prime-minister Dick Schoof has collapsed as notorious rightwing demagogue Geert Wilders decided to pull the plug on it. At a time when the ruling class needs a strong government that ramps up military spending and makes cuts to everything else, this brings more instability and uncertainty to Dutch politics.
Netherlands: ‘The Red Line’ against the Gaza war puts mounting pressure on the government The Red Line demonstration in The Hague on 18 May attracted more than 100,000 participants and was the largest demonstration in the Netherlands since the trade union demonstration on Museumplein in October 2004, more than 20 years ago. It is clear that the mood in the Netherlands is shifting.
