Netherlands: Wilders (Far Right) wins the election. In his programme, Nexit and a stop to refugees. European newspapers: Europe feels the chill

The Far Right leader Geert Wilders has made it: his party will take 25% of the 150 seats of the Dutch Lower House (probably 35 to 37 seats), and he will have to form a government. “A monstrous victory”, this is how the Dutch newspaper deVolkskrant defines it, because it is so overwhelming (it had been forecast at 18%) that it puts Wilders’ rivals, Frans Timmermans, Pieter Omtzigt and Dilan Yesilgöz, “in an awkward position”: especially Yesilgöz and Omtzigt, who had embraced the option of a coalition, “are suddenly faced” with the question whether “they dare rule under” Wilders. “Geert Wilders is the EU’s worst nightmare” is the heading of the European newspaper Politico: the ban on mosques and “Nexit” (the Netherlands’ potentially leaving the EU) are two of his leitmotifs. Across the Channel, The Guardian writes: “Geert Wilders: the Dutch far right figurehead sending a chill across Europe”. Wilders has doubled the number of seats he had taken since the 2021 election. The figures are not so accurate yet, but it is clear already that the alliance between the Social Democrats and the Green Party led by Frans Timmermans comes second, with 25 seats. The loser is the Liberal party Vvd which, after 13 years in the government with Mark Rutte, has lost 10 seats (it should have 24). A big winner at this round, the German Die Zeit writes, is the new Centre party Nsc which “can count on 20 seats on the first shot”. However, Le Monde points out: “Victorious, but Geert Wilders’ far right is far from being sure to form a coalition. To rule, it will have to reach an agreement with the right and centre-right parties, which are cautious though”. The tone of Frans Timmermans’ post is suggestive of the climate that has fallen on the Netherlands: the former deputy president of the European Commission speaks to those who are wondering if they can still stay in the Netherlands now, by answering: “Yes, the leftist Social Democrats and the Green Party have teamed up, and we are there for you”.
Valentina Bombelli