Dutch right-wing leader Wilders' party leaves government coalition over immigration

The party of populist Dutch political leader Geert Wilders abruptly left the country’s governing coalition on Tuesday over a dispute about immigration, a move that brings down the government after less than a year in office, which will now likely trigger snap elections.

Wilders, who leads the Party for Freedom (PVV) and is a hardliner on immigration, was demanding 10 tougher asylum measures — including a freeze on applications and limits on family reunification — which were not agreed to by the other three coalition partners.  

In a stunning move, Wilders said his party was pulling out because the other three ruling parties were not willing to support his ideas on halting asylum migration.

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“No signature under our asylum plans… The PVV leaves the coalition,” Wilders said in a post on X.

Wilders, the so-called “Dutch Donald Trump,” said he had informed Prime Minister Dick Schoof that all ministers from his PVV party would quit the government. Schoof has not yet reacted to the resignation.

Some proposals Wilders was pushing were already part of government policy, like enhanced border controls, but he also demanded the stripping of citizenship from people with a double passport, a proposal critics said undermined fundamental rights, according to the Dutch outlet de Volkskrant.

Wilders also grew frustrated with the lack of progress from his own asylum minister, Marjolein Faber, who was responsible for delaying the repeal of the scatter bill — a law designed to distribute asylum seekers more evenly across municipalities — and the House is still awaiting consideration of its first asylum laws, the outlet reported. Wilders viewed the scatter bill as a symbol of a failed asylum policy and a threat to Dutch identity.

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Last week, Wilders demanded that the army be used to guard land borders and turn away all asylum-seekers. He said at the time that if immigration policy is not toughened up, his party “is out of the Cabinet” and made good on the pledge on Tuesday. 

“I signed up for the toughest asylum policy and not the downfall of the Netherlands,” Wilders told reporters.

It was unclear what would happen next. The government could attempt to remain in power as a minority administration or call new elections for later this year. Schoof called an emergency Cabinet meeting for early afternoon.

Wilders won the most recent election in November 2023 with a surprisingly wide margin of 23% of the vote, but recent polls indicate he has lost some support since joining the government.

Polls put his party at around 20% of the vote now, on par roughly with the Labour/Green combination that is currently the second-largest in parliament.

Dilan Yesilgöz, leader of the right-wing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, said Wilder’s move was “super-irresponsible” and said he was “shocked” by it.

It comes as right-wing parties continue to surge across Europe in line with EU skepticism and growing anger over mass immigration and economic anxiety. 

For instance, Poland has elected Karol Nawrocki, a conservative backed by President Donald Trump, in the country’s presidential runoff election, while the Czech Republic’s eurosceptic opposition leader Andrej Babis, a former prime minister, leads opinion polls before an October election.

Meanwhile, the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Germany has also surged to become the second-largest party in some national polls.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.