It’s a deal: new Dutch cabinet will include the far-right PVV

 

It’s a deal: new Dutch cabinet will include the far-right PVV

May 15, 2024

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/05/its-a-deal-new-dutch-cabinet-will-include-the-far-right-pvv/

 

The next Dutch cabinet will be a right-wing coalition that includes the far-right PVV, now the four parties involved in the talks have finally reached a deal.

 

Talks on forming a new government have been under way for almost six months and continued right up to the deadline of May 15.

 

PVV leader Geert Wilders, who won the election last November with 25% of the vote, told reporters late afternoon that a deal on a “negotiators’ accord” had been reached, but that the issue of who will be prime minister will be discussed later.

 

The negotiators’ agreement, said Wilders, must first be discussed by the four parliamentary parties before it can become definitive.

 

The PVV will be joined in the new alliance by the right wing Liberal (VVD), whose former leader Mark Rutte has been prime minister since 2010. The party, now under the leadership of Dilan Yesilgöz, came third in the election with around 16% of the vote.

 

NSC, set up by former Christian Democrat MP Pieter Omtzigt, and the pro-countryside BBB, which also has strong CDA links, complete the new line-up.

 

Prime minister

Omtzigt told reporters he was glad that a strategy and financial plan had been worked out. He also confirmed that a “candidate” had been put forward for the job of prime minister but when quizzed for more details, Omtzigt said: “I will leave that up to Mr Wilders.”

 

“We are going to form an extra-parliamentary government together and it is all going to work out,” he said.

 

It had been widely rumoured that Wilders had asked former Labour minister Ronald Plasterk, who kick-started the coalition talks last year, to take on the job.

 

Details of the new government’s strategy remain sketchy, but are set to include a hard line on asylum and immigration and measures to boost poorer families’ financial security.

 

One source told RTL the parties have decided to halve the number of people coming to the Netherlands to work. How this would work in principle, given EU freedom of movement rules, is still unclear.

 

Last week one of the far-right negotiators currently involved in crunch talks on forming a new government was photographed with a document under his arm, which appears to show some of the main points that have been agreed on.

 

The document talks about tax cuts from 2025 and the “toughest entry regime for asylum seekers… ever.” It also mentions a positive future for farming and fishing, as well as food security.

 

The document also states that “not everything can be solved in one go” but that “Netherlands is waiting for a breakthrough”.

 

Far right

The inclusion of the PVV in the new coalition is likely to prove controversial to some MPs from the four parties, particularly the VVD and NSC.

 

It also marks a shift in political power in the Netherlands. The PVV, which had a supporting role in Mark Rutte’s first cabinet and then pulled out, has been sidelined since then.

 

However, now that a tentative coalition has been finalised, work will start on appointing ministers who will then flesh out the policy targets which the four parties have identified.

 

Parliament itself will debate the agreement next week. However, according to Omtzigt, it will take another four or five weeks before the formation process is properly completed.