The stunning final sprint that catapulted far-right, Islamophobic and Europhobic leader Geert Wilders to victory in Wednesday's election in the Netherlands will long be studied in Political Science faculties. Neither his rivals nor Wilders himself expected such a good result for his Party for Freedom (the PVV has won 37 of the 150 seats in the Dutch Parliament, more than double from two years ago), but there is no time to lick -the wounds are not for celebrations: today, the Lower House will appoint an explorer who will be in charge of probing the possibilities of forming a Government and, later on, will appoint an informant who will in all probability be the leader of the PVV.
"Now they can no longer ignore us", congratulates Wilders. Although, unlike Belgium, there is no sanitary cordon in the Netherlands to prevent the extreme right from coming to power, the truth is that since 2010, when it offered its parliamentary support to Mark's first government Rutte (VVD) and eighteen months later dropped him, he has never been considered as a possible partner.
His excellent result, built on the collapse of all the parties that were part of the previous coalition, attacking the left's attempt to join forces to be able to stop him, make him an indispensable partner this time .
The leader of the PVV has reached out to three conservative parties. First of all, the VVD, which although before Wednesday had ruled out supporting Wilders if he was elected prime minister, did not hesitate to have him as a partner instead; now he is silent about his intentions. Secondly, in the New Social Center, a new party led by ex-Christian Democrat Pieter Omtzigt, the other sensation of these elections, who also supports a severe curb on immigration of all kinds. And, finally, the Citizen Peasant Movement (BBB), a newly minted party that won the provincial elections in March because it capitalized on the discontent of the countryside against the Hague; his result has now been modest, but he shares many points of his program with the PVV and his presence in the Government would reflect the slap that a large part of the electorate wanted to give to the traditional parties.
Beyond the parliamentary arithmetic, the parties will have to weigh the political implications of their decisions. The postulates of the PVV program not only collide with the pro-European vocation of the country and its foreign policy, but also attack the rule of law. Apart from wanting to suspend the right to asylum, ban Islam and jail those suspected of having jihadist ideas, Wilders wants a referendum on the EU, rejects European climate policy and opposes Western sanctions on Russia or the approach to Ukraine.
His main challenge will be to refine these positions until they are digestible for the rest of the conservative parties. For now, he has promised that he will be "the prime minister of all Dutch people, regardless of their origin or religion", and will act with pragmatism, as he did in the election campaign, when he parked his anti-Islam rhetoric to talk about the cost of living and other immediate concerns of the Dutch, in addition to immigration, a clearly successful strategy. He also assures that he will govern "within the legal and constitutional framework", a statement that was positively evaluated by Omtzigt, who neither confirms nor rules out that he can support the PVV.
The process of forming a government could extend until the elections to the Eurochamber in June 2024, an appointment that the far-right and anti-European parties await with anticipation. From the Vice Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Salvini, to Marine Le Pen, Santiago Abascal or Viktor Orbán, they have all congratulated Wilders on his spectacular victory, which they hope will be the prelude to a new Europe.
