Netherlands close to right-wing coalition, but without Wilders as leader

The Netherlands has taken a substantial step towards a new right-wing coalition government but it will not be led by its most prominent far-right politician, Geert Wilders, despite his clear win in the November general election.

After two days of make-or-break talks at a secluded country house, the leaders of the country’s four right-wing parties emerged separately on Wednesday evening to confirm that none of them would take a seat in a putative new cabinet or compete to replace Mark Rutte as prime minister.

Instead, the four – Mr Wilders of the Freedom Party, Dana Yesilgov of the VVD, Pieter Omtzigt of New Social Contract and Caroline Van der Plas of the citizen-farmer BBB – say they will each continue to lead their parties in parliament while a new cabinet and prime minister are chosen.

If the final stage of the talks is successful, that cabinet will be “extra-parliamentary” or “technocratic” in the sense that it will be made up of experts, politicians and perhaps former politicians – from whom is expected to emerge a prime minister or chairperson agreeable to all four parties.

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Given his success in shepherding the four this close to agreement, there are suggestions that the talks facilitator, Kim Putters, chairman of the Socio-Economic Institute and historically a Labour supporter, is being suggested as prime minister.

“I can only become the prime minister if all the parties in the coalition support it – and that is not the case”, posted Mr Wilders on X.

“I really want a right-wing cabinet. Less asylum and immigration. Love for my country and its voters is more important than my own position.”

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, however, Mr Wilders, whose Freedom Party won 37 seats in the 150-seat parliament or about 25 per cent of the vote, was less sanguine, describing the outcome as “unfair”.

“Imagine that Rutte had won the election and the others said, ‘No, let someone else be prime minister’. That is not the way it should be in a democracy.”

He revealed that only Caroline Van der Plas of the BBB had agreed to support him as prime minister without reservations. However, he was committed to remaining in the lower house “no matter how much pain it causes”.

Even after more than 100 days, the final phase of the talks remains tricky. The four leaders will have to define what they mean by an extra-parliamentary cabinet and who qualifies or does not qualify as a minister.

Because expert ministers will not be bound by party discipline, an extra-parliamentary cabinet will have looser ties to parliament than a conventional coalition with a parliamentary majority.

That, maintains Pieter Omtzigt, who first proposed the technocratic option, should allow parliament to scrutinise proposed laws more closely.