Who the interview with PVV leader Geert Wilders The Telegraph reads, you might think that a completely different Geert Wilders has emerged. After eleven years of tough opposition, the PVV leader would like to govern again in a right-wing cabinet, he says, and will take a “constructive” position in any negotiations after the elections. Wilders also says that he wants to choose a different tone, that in the PVV program published on Saturday the “sharp edges” have worn off, and that he no longer wants to play the man in the campaign as he always eagerly did. He now calls personal attacks “not always useful.”
De Telegraaf calls the chapter in the PVV program on asylum and migration “a lot milder”. But anyone who reads it will still see many of the same radical texts and positions. The PVV wants to close the borders because of “the ongoing asylum tsunami” and stop asylum seekers coming from neighboring countries to the Netherlands at the border with controversial pushbacks. The party still takes the same far-reaching position on Islam: mosques and Islamic schools must all be closed, and the Koran is banned.
Instead of mildness, Wilders shows a slightly greater willingness to compromise. Although the PVV still strives for an asylum stop, in which no asylum seeker is allowed to enter the Netherlands, Wilders says in De Telegraaf that he is also satisfied with measures in cabinet negotiations that will “significantly” reduce the influx of asylum seekers. This position seems to demonstrate some sense of reality: an asylum stop is politically and legally unfeasible, because the Netherlands is obliged to accept asylum seekers by international treaties and European agreements.
‘No more blockade’
In the Telegraaf interview, Wilders expressly seeks rapprochement with the new VVD party leader Dilan Yesilgöz, who no longer categorically rejects governing with the PVV. Under Prime Minister Mark Rutte, cooperation with the PVV was not possible as long as Wilders did not take back his criminal statements about ‘fewer Moroccans’ in the Netherlands. Rutte’s successor Yesilgöz said last week on TV program On 1 that she still finds those statements “disgusting”, but that they are no longer a blockade. Yesilgöz is now “looking ahead” and said he wants to wait for the PVV’s election manifesto. Wilders points out to Yesilgöz in De Telegraaf that the asylum issue can be solved “only with the PVV”, and not with left-wing parties.
BBB has never ruled out cooperation with the PVV, but Omtzigt has
Numerically, a (centre) right cabinet is a possibility with the current polls. In the latest poll from I&O Research This Saturday, the New Social Contract of Pieter Omtzigt, the VVD, BBB and the PVV together exceed eighty seats. BBB has never ruled out cooperation with the PVV in a cabinet, Omtzigt has. In an interview with Tubantia he previously said that parties for him “must meet the basic conditions of the rule of law”, and according to him the PVV does not do that. At the same time, Omtzigt expressly did not rule out a tolerance construction such as during the Rutte I cabinet, or working with the PVV on the theme of migration from a minority cabinet.
The question is what Dilan Yesilgöz thinks when she reads the PVV program. Although a compromise between PVV and VVD on the issue of asylum seems possible, the rest of the election manifesto is certainly not mild or moderate. The climate policy, embraced by the VVD in recent years, must be “put through the shredder” by the PVV because it is “unaffordable madness”. The nitrogen policy also “must be scrapped”. The PVV is opposed to further military and financial support for Ukraine, an important issue for the VVD. And the PVV still wants to leave the EU.
Losing in the polls
In any case, Wilders faces a difficult campaign. The PVV, which now has seventeen seats in the House of Representatives, is losing in the polls. For many PVV voters, Omtzigt and BBB are an attractive alternative, although Wilders’ party could also benefit from the unrest at JA21. In terms of content, the focus on asylum and migration seems logical: the I&O survey showed on Saturday that many voters consider the PVV ‘issue owner’ on this theme and trust the party on this. Until now, Wilders has mainly received this appreciation from right-wing voters in particular because of the uncompromising position he chose on the subject. Wilders must hope that those same voters can now also appreciate his desire to govern and make compromises.