Wilders announces he will not be prime minister of the Netherlands

Photo: Sem van der Wal ANP via Agence France-Presse The leader of the Dutch far-right PVV party, Geert Wilders, speaks to the media after discussions between the leaders of different political parties in The Hague on March 1.

Julie Capelle – Agence France-Presse and Richard Carter – Agence France-Presse in The Hague

3:47 p.m.

• Europe

Dutch Islamophobic far-right leader Geert Wilders announced on Wednesday that he would not be prime minister due to lack of support from the political parties with whom he is trying to form a government coalition.

“I can only become prime minister if ALL parties in the coalition support me. That was not the case,” Wilders said on X, almost four months after the parliamentary elections.

Dutch media had shortly before the announcement reported a breakthrough in negotiations that could lead to the creation of an “extra-parliamentary” government or technocrats.

Its exact composition has yet to be defined, but the leaders of the four parties in talks – including Mr Wilders – should in this case remain MPs.

Members of the technocratic government should be appointed by political parties: they could be recruited from within the broader party workforce, or even from outside politics, according to Dutch media.< /p>

“I would like a right-wing cabinet. Less asylum and immigration. Dutch first,” Mr. Wilders said.

“Love for my country and my voters is great and more important than my own position,” he added, although he had regularly expressed his wish to lead the country after his large electoral victory.

“Next step”

Mr. Wilders stunned the Netherlands and the rest of Europe with a sweeping victory in the legislative elections in November.

But in the highly fragmented Dutch political system, where no party is strong enough to govern alone, the announcement of the results generally marks the start of months of negotiations.

The leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) first tried to gain a government majority with the liberal VVD party, the agricultural party BBB and the centrist New Social Contract (NSC) party. .

But negotiations in this direction ended in an impasse last month, when the head of the NSC, Pieter Omtzigt, abruptly withdrew from the negotiations, citing the dismal state of Dutch public finances.

Mr. Omtzigt had previously raised concerns about Mr. Wilders' manifesto, a climate-sceptical and Islamophobic text, which notably advocates banning mosques and the Koran as well as the Netherlands' exit from the EU.

The departure of the champion of the fight against corruption from the negotiating table had plunged the process of forming a government into uncertainty.

At the time, Dutch media Algemeen Dagblad called the talks a “catastrophe waiting to happen,” with “poison, mutual criticism, gossip.”

Kim Putters, a former Labor senator, was then appointed to oversee the talks, successfully bringing the leaders of the four feuding parties back to the negotiating table.

Political parties are ready to take a “next step” in forming a government following “good” and “intense” discussions on Monday and Tuesday, he said on Tuesday.

He is due to deliver a key report on Thursday, as time runs out for the Netherlands to form a government.

Mark Rutte remains in his post as Prime Minister while awaiting the formation of a new government, but at the same time appears as the favorite to lead NATO.

Since the elections, support for the PVV has only strengthened, according to polls.