Four right-wing Dutch parties said on Wednesday they had reached a preliminary agreement to form a government that would exclude populist politician Geert Wilders as prime minister.
The agreement comes after nearly six months of negotiations and the leaders of the four political parties must now submit it to their respective House members, who can still propose changes. But the chances of forming a government are good, with leaders from all parties expressing optimism.
“You can’t go wrong,” said Caroline van der Plas, leader of the Farmers’ Citizens Movement. populist pro-peasant partytold reporters on Wednesday.Mr Wilders responded Posted two praying hands and a sun emoji on social media platform X.
The deal will still largely depend on Wilders’ Freedom Party, which delivered a decisive victory in last fall’s election, sending shockwaves through the Dutch political system.
Since November, Wilders and his Freedom Party have been in talks to form a government with the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, a center-right party that has governed the country for the past 13 years. new social contract, centrist party; and the peasant citizen movement.
The four hold a combined 88 seats in the House of Representatives, making them a majority. March, Mr Wilders announces he will not become prime minister It comes after the quartet was unable to agree on how to work together under Mr Wilders.
Instead, he said he would retain his seat in the House of Representatives as party leader. The leaders of the other three parties also agreed to do so, preventing any of them from holding the country’s highest office.
If the deal is approved, the four parties will cooperate in a slightly different form than is customary in the Netherlands: the cabinet is made up of political outsiders and the prime minister is not the leader of one of the ruling parties.
Choose this structure instead of a traditional majority coalition like the one below Prime Minister Mark Rutte Having governed the country for nearly fifteen years, he aimed to put more distance between the cabinet and parliament.
But Simon Otterjes, an assistant professor of Dutch politics at Leiden University in the Netherlands, said Wilders’ party will still have a lot of influence.
“This will be a cabinet in which radical right parties will make their mark,” Otjes said. “This will not be taken away because Wilders will not become prime minister.”
Most of the specifics of the preliminary joint agreement remain unknown. It is likely to include strict immigration policy, a key issue in Wilders’ campaign.
The big question is who will be the next prime minister. Wilders and other negotiators have yet to make any public statements on the matter.
“We also talked about the prime minister today,” Wilders told Dutch reporters on Wednesday. “We’ll continue the discussion later.”
Mr Wilders is also the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives. Otjes said the stance could give him greater influence in public debates and bolster his party’s already strong position in the House of Representatives.
Mr. Wilders’ party Easily the biggest one after the Dutch elections in November. The victory for the Liberal Party, which advocates banning the Quran, closing Islamic schools and stopping accepting asylum seekers, is a clear rebuke of the country’s political establishment.
But since the election, Wilders has backed away from some of his most extreme proposals.
To ensure he abides by the constitution, the four parties took the unusual step of signing a document pledging to uphold the constitution – something long taken for granted.
