A coalition agreement was reached in the Netherlands on Thursday 16 May, 6 months after the parliamentary elections in which Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV party emerged as the big winner. This agreement between the far right and the liberal VVD party, a member of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament and the party of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, has been denounced by European pro-democracy voices.
On 16 May, the Chair of the Renew Europe group and one of the heads of list of the Renew Europe Now platform in the European elections, Valérie Hayer, expressed her “total disapproval” and “deep concern about the progress of discussions on the Dutch coalition government, which brings together the VVD, the pro-farming BBB party and the new anti-corruption NSC party, with the PVV.
“An agreement with a party like that is tantamount to reneging on values we hold dear”, she declared.
She then announced a meeting of all the member parties of the Renew Europe group on 10 June, following the European elections.
A number of influential figures in the European Parliament’s pro-European groups also deplored the decision and called for the Renew Europe group and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) party, of which the VVD is a member, to be held to account.
“Supporting a government led by a far-right party is a violation of the democratic cordon sanitaire and is in flagrant contradiction with the ALDE’s declared commitments”, declared the head of the European Greens’ list, Terry Reintke.
Nicolas Schmit, the candidate heading the S&D list, deplored the fact that Geert Wilders and his party defend “anti-European, racist, pro-Putin, anti-democratic positions. [...] Power prioritised over values”.
For Sophie in ‘t Veld, a Dutch MEP in the Renew Europe group and head of the Volt party’s list for Belgium in the European elections, this decision contradicts the declaration of commitment to the defence of democracy, co-signed by Renew Europe with the S&D, the Greens/EFA and The Left.
This declaration, published on 8 May, effectively calls on the European Commission and all European democratic parties to firmly reject the normalisation of radical and far-right parties, as well as cooperation or alliance with them (see EUROPE 13407/9).
“We will never cooperate or form a coalition with the far right and radical parties at any level”, said the signatory political groups.
In response, Sandro Gozi, another of the heads of list of the Renew Europe Now platform and Secretary General of the European Democratic Party (EDP), reaffirmed on Thursday 16 May the EDP’s “unwavering commitment” to European values and its categorical rejection of any alliance with the far right in the European Parliament.
In a press release, he explicitly expressed the EDP’s disagreement with the choice of coalition in the Netherlands, “linked to specific national issues”, and stressed that the EDP’s position was “fully in line with the principles set out in the Renew Europe Now Memorandum for these European elections and with our previous positions”. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)