2024-02-07 17:32:00
Negotiations on the formation of a far-right coalition government in the Netherlands ended without results after one of the parties left, plunging the country into political uncertainty, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, Day.Az reports citing Interfax.
In recent weeks, negotiations on forming a government in the Netherlands have been carried out by several parties, led by the Party for Freedom of the far-right populist Geert Wilders, who won the parliamentary elections in November 2023. Based on the voting results, his party received 37 portfolios out of 150 in the lower house of parliament in the Netherlands.
Wilders agreed with the leaders of three other parties to form a coalition government, but the leader of the New Social Contract party, which received 20 seats in the elections, Peter Omtzigt announced the night before that he had decided to withdraw from the negotiations.
Omtzigt explained this by saying that he was shocked by the report on the state of public finances, which was released by Ronald Plasterk, the politician whom Wilders chose as an observer of the process of negotiations for a coalition government. He noted that he was disappointed not only with the figures he saw in the report, but also with the fact that they were conveyed by Plasterkom to the negotiators only towards the end of the first round of negotiations.
Wilders criticized Omtzigt’s decision, saying he “doesn’t understand it at all” because the parties “had constructive negotiations until the very end.”
“Incredibly disappointing. The Netherlands needs this cabinet and now Peter Omtzigt is walking out of the discussion while we are still negotiating. I don’t understand this at all,” he said.
Omtzigt himself stated that he does not consider it possible on behalf of the party and government to “make empty promises to the people, knowing in advance that he cannot fulfill them.” He did not rule out that his party could join the next government, but it could be a minority government or a broad extra-parliamentary cabinet.
In addition to these two politicians, representatives of the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), which won elections four times from 2010 to 2023, and whose leader Mark Rutte was the permanent prime minister all these years, took part in the coalition negotiations. However, last year Rutte announced his desire to leave Dutch politics and handed over leadership of the party to Dilan Ješilgöz-Zegerius. In the last parliamentary elections, this party won 24 seats in parliament – and this is considered a major fiasco after so many years of victories. Also participating in the negotiations is the Farmers’ Citizens’ Movement, which has won seven seats.
Wilders, who has gained popularity with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim statements, said he sees no prospects in creating a coalition led by the center-left bloc led by politician Frans Timmermans.
“I hope that Peter Omtzigt’s decision to run away now will not help Frans Timmermans take the reins of power, because this is not in the national interest and this is not what the voters chose,” Wilders said.
If politicians fail to agree on forming a coalition, the Netherlands will hold new parliamentary elections in 2024.
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