Euroskeptics applaud shock Wilders win in Dutch election

 

Euroskeptics applaud shock Wilders win in Dutch election

 

‘More and more countries within the European Union are contesting the way it works,’ French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen says.

 

BY LAURA HÜLSEMANN, NICOLAS CAMUT AND PIERRE EMMANUEL NGENDAKUMANA

NOVEMBER 23, 2023 1:22 PM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/euroskeptic-cheer-shock-geert-wilders-dutch-election/

 

Europe’s far-right politicians are lining up to congratulate the anti-Islam, Euroskeptic radical Geert Wilders on his shock victory in Wednesday’s Dutch parliamentary elections.

 

Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Rally, said she was “delighted” by Wilders’ triumph. “Geert Wilders and his movement are allies of the National Rally,” Le Pen told French public radio broadcaster France Inter Thursday morning.

 

“They demonstrate that more and more countries within the European Union are contesting the way it works,” Le Pen said.

 

Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party (PVV) made an unexpected breakthrough, securing 37 of the 150 parliamentary seats, according to the latest polls on Thursday morning — making PVV the biggest party in the country.

 

The election results sent shudders through Brussels, as Wilders has openly called for a “Nexit” referendum on leaving the EU.

 

Asked whether a potential “Nexit” referendum would be good news, Le Pen answered: “The good news is when people can express themselves.”

 

“It’s up to the Dutch people to choose their destiny, just as the British people have done,” the National Rally leader added.

 

Wilders, who has been dubbed the “Dutch Donald Trump” for his anti-immigration agenda and shock of blond hair, collected praise from other fellow Euroskeptic leaders across the Continent.

 

“A new Europe is possible,” Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and leader of the anti-immigration League party, wrote on X on Wednesday evening, calling Wilders a “friend” and an “ally of the League.”

 

“Congratulations on this great success,” Alice Weidel, leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party said on Thursday morning. “All of Europe wants a political turnaround!” she added.

 

Wilders also received congratulations from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, with whom he shares an opposition to the EU’s support for Ukraine. “The winds of change are here!” Orbán wrote on X, in reference to a song from the West German rock band Scorpions, which was released shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

“Bravo, Geert!!!!!,” Harald Vilimsky, a European lawmaker with the Austrian far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), wrote in a post showing a picture of leaders from the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament. “Proud of my political friends and our alliance,” Vilimsky said.

 

Belgium’s Tom Van Grieken, the leader of the far-right Vlaams Belang party, said the results signaled that people were “yearning for real change.”

 

“Parties like ours are coming all over Europe!” Van Grieken said.

 

“More and more Europeans are demanding in the streets and at the ballot box that their nations, their borders and their rights be defended,” Santiago Abascal, the leader of of Spain’s far-right Vox party, said.