VVD leader says party will no longer form a coalition with PVV's Geert Wilders
VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz said her right wing party no longer wants to take part in a coalition government with the PVV, the far-right party led by Geert Wilders. "We will no longer work with him," she said in an interview with the Telegraaf. He is an "incredibly unreliable partner," echoing statements by her predecessor, former Prime Minister Mark Rutte, after his first Cabinet came to a premature end when Wilders yanked his support after 17 months.
Last week, the four-party coalition between the PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB fell apart after 336 days in office when Wilders withdrew his party's support. Where the 2012 collapse of the Rutte I Cabinet was over austerity measures, this time Wilders demanded stricter measures against asylum and immigration even when his own party's minister was in charge of the policy portfolio.
"Our country needs mature leadership in difficult times. More than ever, a stable right-wing liberal Cabinet is needed. That can only happen without Geert Wilders. Without the PVV," the VVD leader wrote on her party's website. "The cowardly route of walking away is still Wilders' style."
It was a change in tone compared to last Wednesday. During a debate in Parliament a day after Prime Minister Dick Schoof's Cabinet fell, Yeşilgöz was evasive about whether she would exclude working with the PVV in the future.
Yeşilgöz came to her decision after consulting with party members last week. "None of them said that Wilders deserved another chance," the newspaper quoted Yeşilgöz as stating. It was Yeşilgöz who opened the door to a possible coalition with the PVV two years ago after the fall of the Rutte IV Cabinet, the first time the VVD seriously entertained the idea since Rutte I fell in 2012. Yeşilgöz said she does not regret working with the PVV.
Talks immediately started within the VVD again this week about collaborating with Wilders. "This political experiment has officially failed," the youth branch of the VVD. Former party leader Ed Nijpels also renewed his call to stop testing the waters with the PVV, as did former Parliamentary leader Frans Weisglas.
According to Wilders, ruling out the PVV means the VVD are essentially choosing to form a coalition with GroenLinks-PvdA after the elections. The possibilities for Wilders to enter a coalition government after the elections of October 29 are virtually impossible due to the VVD's move. GroenLinks-PvdA, SP, CDA, and other parties have made it clear they will not work with the VVD. The CDA was part of the Rutte I government, and the PvdA formed a left-right Cabinet with the VVD after the ensuing general election.
According to the VVD leader, excluding the PVV does not automatically mean a coalition government with GroenLinks-PvdA. "I want to vigorously combat that," Yeşilgöz said. In the past, it was possible to work well with the PvdA, but that party's planned "merger with GroenLinks seems to have torn the PvdA away from the center of Dutch politics."
