Anti-Islam leader Wilders excluded from new Dutch coalition talks; Dismissed as "increasingly radical"

By Janene Pieters on June 16, 2017 - 08:38
Geert Wilders surrounded by bodyguards, Spijkenesse Feb 2017
Geert Wilders surrounded by bodyguards, Spijkenesse Feb 2017. (Photo: Peter van der Sluijs / Wikimedia Commons)

The VVD and CDA again firmly stated that they will not work with anti-Islam party PVV and its leader Geert Wilders. Formation negotiator Herman Tjeenk Willink asked VVD leader Mark Rutte and CDA leader Sybrand Buma to put in writing why they will not form a government with Wilders. They dismissed Wilders as untrustworthy and "increasingly radical", the Volkskrant reports

"Over the past years Wilders hardened in his rejection of the liberal core values of our country", Rutte wrote. As long as the PVV continues to "shame and insult" population groups, call the Tweede Kamer a "fake parliament", "undermine the judiciary" and "refuse to take responsibility", Wilders can not rule, according to the VVD leader. "To establish a stable government, mutual trust is indispensable and that is lacking."

"The PVV does not wish to recognize the Islamic faith as a religion, but as a political ideology.", Buma wrote. "For the CDA it is unthinkable to participate in a government coalition that does not have a common basis that the religion of some 800 thousand inhabitants in our country falls under he protection of Article 6 of the Constitution." According to Buma, Wilders is making himself impossible to deal with. "The PVV's policy proposals are becoming increasingly radical. The PVV leader has only become coarser in his performances and expressions."

Wilders responded on Twitter: "Disgusting excuses. I'm not radical, Islam is."

Tjeenk Willink also asked SP leader Emile Roemer to put in writing why he refuses to work with the VVD. "Because, based on its fundamental principles, this party is the architect of a perennial neoliberal course based on a vision of human and society, government and public sector that is at odds with the vision of the SP", Roemer wrote. 

With that the PVV and SP are definitely ruled out as possible partners for a coalition with the VVD, CDA and D66. As the continues, all eyes are now, again, on the ChristenUnie and PvdA. On Thursday Tjeenk Willink met with Rutte, Buma and D66 leader Alexander Pechtold. That discussion did not end with a joint choice for a fourth partner, according to the newspaper. 

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