The result of the elections on Thursday 23 May should give as the main winners of the European elections in the Netherlands, in order, the populist and Eurosceptic Forum voor Democratie ‘FvD' (Forum for Democracy), the liberal-conservative party 'VVD' of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the 'GroenLinks’ of the European Greens’ Spitzenkandidat, Bas Eickhout. In total, ten parties will share the 26 seats allocated to the Netherlands in the new European assembly, according to the latest surveys.
Five to six seats for the Eurosceptics of the Forum voor Democratie (FvD). Already considered the big winner of these elections, the Forum voor Democratie, founded in 2016 and embodied by the very Eurosceptic - and very much in the media - Thierry Baudet, will make its entry into the European Parliament with five seats. Mr Baudet has taken over large chunks of the programme of Geert Wilders's Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV), but with a less brutal, more flexible and more intellectualizing speech - thus more in line with Dutch political culture. It has won him favors of center-right voters in the last elections.
Pro-'Nexit', the FvD considers that the EU "is unreformable" and is therefore in favour of a referendum on EU membership - a vision that Mr Baudet has in the meantime somewhat relaxed, the setbacks of Brexit having generated a more lukewarm attitude among Dutch voters for this scenario.
A sovereignist and in favour of direct democracy, Mr Baudet is also climate sceptical and opposed to a European immigration policy.
Many referendums are on his party's agenda: on maintaining the Netherlands' membership of the euro area, on the further opening of borders and the free movement of people within the Union, and on maintaining membership of the European Union. “The EU, open borders and the euro, we must get rid of them”, notes the party on its website.
FvD MEPs, led by Derk Jan Eppink, could strengthen the ranks of the European Parliament's European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, where they have also pledged to vote against ambitious climate policies and the Posted Workers Directive.
The Party for Freedom (PVV) is therefore losing ground in this operation. With five seats credited to it in 2014, it may only get one seat, according to recent projections.
Four-five seats for the VVD Liberals. The party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ('Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie' - VVD), is also expected to win five seats, an increase since the last European elections.
The Conservative Party led a campaign, that was very straightforward and uncomplicated, using a pro-European discourse and directly tackling the FvD proposals. As its programme states from the outset, the VVD is campaigning “for a strong Netherlands in a secure Europe". It calls for a "focus" on “important themes, such as security and immigration”.
It urges the EU to focus on cross-border issues and not to "interfere ... with what countries can organise themselves”. The second keyword of the VVD campaign is "courage", to make progress in Europe, including tackling countries that do not respect the Treaties or building coalitions "as the VVD did with the EU-Turkey refugee agreement to control the influx of asylum seekers”. The head of the party’s list for the European elections, Malik Azmani, claims authorship of this agreement and is very restrictive on the issue of immigration.
The VVD also calls for better compliance with European targets for reducing CO2 emissions. A European flight tax is possible, according to the party, if it is non-binding.
Within the ALDE group, the VVD MEPs will once again join those of the progressive party Democrats 66, which is losing ground in the polls (from four to two seats). Together, they intend to take up the British torch for a liberal and open Europe.
Three or four seats for the Green Left. Finally, the Green Left party ('GroenLinks’), led by Bas Eickhout, Spitzenkandidate of the European Green Party, should obtain an additional seat compared to 2014, giving the European Parliament three MEPS.
The Dutch Green Party’s ‘DNA’, environmental protection and the fight against climate change, is carried out through a common generation of energy in line with European regions' capacities. It is also about working to change mobility to stem the development of air transport in favour of high-speed trains between European capitals. Finally, the Dutch Green Party wants the EU to "reward farmers if they make ecological choices”.
As pro-European, the Dutch Greens are campaigning for a common asylum and immigration policy, in order to "fairly share the burden of reception and accommodation" and to develop joint return policies that allow for a "fair, humane and predictable” asylum and migration policy.
As for the Christian Democratic Appeal party (CDA), they are also in free fall in the polls: they are expected to lose two seats to obtain only three in the new European assembly.
The Partij van de Arbeid (Labour Party), or PvdA, is expected to maintain three seats and the socialist party 'PS' will go from two to one seat. Read the campaign programmes of the Dutch parties: - Democrats 66 (EN): https://bit.ly/2Er8T0w; - Forum voor Democratie (NL): https://bit.ly/2WZSkjE; - GroenLinks (EN): https://bit.ly/2Wr7nWJ; - Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (NL): https://bit.ly/2JWa1Nf; - PvdA (NL): https://bit.ly/2XLDmyC (original version in French by Hermine Donceel).