Wilders accuses VVD of choosing left-wing destruction; GL-PvdA won't acquiesce to right
PVV leader Geert Wilders lashed out against Dilan Yeşilgöz after she said that her VVD would not work with the PVV in a Cabinet again. According to the far-right Wilders, “Yeşilgöz is choosing Frans Timmermans’ PvdA/GL.” The GroenLinks-PvdA leader said that his party would work with the VVD but would not shift to the right to accommodate right-wing parties.
After taking some time to consult with the VVD members, Yeşilgöz on Monday officially closed the door to future cooperation with the PVV. Wilders, who is facing a sea of noes, was not happy with that, as was evident in the tirade of posts he made on X after her announcement.
“She wants to destroy the Netherlands together with the left,” Wilders said on the social media platform. “That means many more asylum seekers and Islam. But the voter decides. So make the PVV the largest party so that no one can ignore us.”
Yesilgöz’s decision to close the door on the PVV makes Wilders’ participation in a future Cabinet even more unlikely. The far-right party is a no-go for the left-wing and more centrist parties. NSC leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven and CDA leader Henri Bontebal have also ruled out cooperation with Wilders’ party. That means the only right-wing parties for the PVV to team up with are BBB, JA21, and FvD - not nearly enough for a majority in parliament, according to the latest polls by Ipsos I&O and Maurice de Hond.
In recent days, discussion in national politics was dominated by whether Yeşilgöz would work with Wilders again, or whether the VVD would seek cooperation with GroenLinks-PvdA. GroenLinks-PvdA would be willing, but there will be no shifting to the right to accommodate the right-wing party, leader Frans Timmermans said at an election meetup in Eindhoven on Monday, NU.nl reports.
Timmermans has been trying to approach other parties for some time, specifically the CDA and VVD. Timmermans believes that the VVD has shifted too close to the radical right and hopes to entice the party back toward the center. “The more firmly we stand for our left-wing positions, the greater the chance that parties that have moved to the right will return to the center,” he said. “We want to attract parties to our right, instead of us having to make that move. We have done that enough. We won’t do it anymore.”
The GroenLinks-PvdA leader said that with the PvdA’s participation in the Rutte II Cabinet in mind. At the time, the labour party made considerable concessions to make a coalition with the VVD possible to the backdrop of the financial crisis. The Rutte II Cabinet was the last Dutch Cabinet to serve its entire term in office, but the cooperation ended with the worst election results ever for the PvdA.
