The leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), Geert Wilders.
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LONDON — Far-right Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders’ hopes of becoming Dutch prime minister are dwindling after coalition talks broke down on Tuesday.
Pieter Omtzigt, founder and leader of the fledgling centre-right New Social Contract (NSC), has walked out of the talks, upsetting Wilders’ efforts to build a working alliance for the Party for Freedom (PVV) after Holland’s shock victory in November. general elections.
Wilders took to social media on Tuesday night to criticize Omtzigt’s departure, calling the decision “incredibly disappointing”.
“The Netherlands wants this cabinet and now Pieter Omtzigt is throwing in the towel while we were still in discussions until today. I don’t understand it at all,” Wilders wrote in a Position in X, according to Google Translate.
Dutch media reported that Omtzigt, whose party won 20 seats in November on a campaign of “good governance” and “doing politics differently”, was shocked by the Cabinet’s confidential briefings on the state of public finances.
In a letter published in X, Omtzigt said it was clear that PVV and NSC have “different financial expectations” for the coming years.
“In no way does the NSC want to make promises to the Dutch, which they know in advance are empty promises that cannot be kept during the coming cabinet term. You don’t build social security with castles in the sky,” he said.
Wilders, who won a quarter of the vote in the election, has been negotiating with the NSC, outgoing prime minister Mark Rutte’s center-right VVD and the farmers’ protest party BBB since late November, with no sign of a deal. Shut up.
BBB chief Caroline van der Plas described the breakdown in talks as a “absolute surprise” noting that so far they have been proceeding constructively.
But former Labor minister Ronald Plasterk, who is leading the talks, earlier pointed to the economy as a major sticking point in the talks. This comes after the Dutch central bank he said the incoming coalition will need to find about 17 billion euros ($18.3 billion) in structural spending cuts in order to keep public finances stable, Reuters reported.
Wilders — an anti-immigration Eurosceptic who has call for a “Nexit,” or the Netherlands’ exit from the European Union — has previously expressed opposition to major spending cuts, pledging instead to lead a lower-tax government.
His surprise victory in November sent shockwaves across Europe, where far-right parties are making gains ahead of June’s European elections amid growing discontent over immigration, green policies and the cost-of-living crisis.
However, falling out with the biggest potential coalition partner could leave the PVV unable to form a majority in the 150-seat lower house of the Netherlands.
If Wilders fails to form a government, Plasterk could decide to turn to the latter, the Labor-Greens alliance led by former EU commissioner Frans Timmermans. Alternatively, if no combination of parties can agree to form a coalition, new elections could be called.
Omsigt said in his letter that he would be willing to support a minority government, likely to be made up of the three parties now left at the table.