Far-right leader Geert Wilders hoped to ride the wave of support for the Dutch coalition he managed to form after winning the national elections in November, and sees the rise of the right as part of a broader pan-European trend.
The room packed with members of the block Left-The Greens was filled with cries of astonishment and joy. The results seem to indicate that the joint list will win eight of the 31 seats that the Netherlands will obtain in the European Parliament.
There were even louder cheers when it was projected that the Freedom and Democracy Party, from the radical right, would obtain seven seats. Pro-European parties are expected to have obtained two-thirds of the votes.
“To the pro-european parties of the Netherlands have done very well in these elections, which sends a clear signal to the rest of Europe that there is no need to work with the radical right. The assumption that the radical right would sweep these elections has not materialized in the Netherlands,” he told Euronews the former First Vice President of the European Commission, the socialist Frans Timmermans.
Timmermans currently leads the Left – Greens alliance.
An electoral coalition to confront the extreme right
The combination Greens and Socialists ran on a joint list for the first time in the European elections, but will split when it arrives in Brussels. Labor is part of the Socialist and Democrats group and the Greens-Green Left of the Greens/European Free Alliance parliamentary group.
Despite the result, the Party for Freedom and Democracy of Geert Wilders He did not organize any electoral party. Wilders is expected to get seven seatsa considerable increase from five years ago, when the party only won one seat.
Wilders foreshadows the expansion of the far right in Europe.
Wilders hoped to ride the wave of support for the Dutch coalition he managed to form after winning the national elections in November. For him, the rise of the right is part of a broader trend: “The West is waking up and parties like mine are gaining popularity throughout the European Union. People are waking up and I hope they stay awake,” he told Euronews.
“The next few days are crucial for the future of Europe. Will it be with more borders e immigration Or will it be much tougher, not with an enlargement of the European Union, but by returning legislative powers to the capitals? And that’s something we aspire to.”
On one side was Sebastian Stoteler, the man who will really go to Brussels for Wilders’ party. Stoteler has only appeared a couple of times in the media, so he is still a great unknown. On his website he qualifies the islam of totalitarian ideology similar to fascism y al Nazism.
The radical right party had always advocated an exit from the EU, the so-called Nexitbut this year he changed course.
Wilders now says he wants to change Europe from within. Wilders hopes to integrate with the GroupIdentity and Democracy in Parliament, where the National Group of Marine Le Pen.
Enter the institutions to “change European policy from within”
“If you like change large institutions like the European Union, it is more effective if you do from inside. So if parties like mine, which seem to be winning all over Europe, from Austria, France y Belgium until Italia y Spain and other countries, we would join forces and perhaps form a large group of MEPs that would be capable and strong enough to change European politics from within,” he said during Wednesday’s campaign.
Turnout was the highest since 1989, with 47% of voters going to the polls. In 2019, participation was 42%.
