Far-right firebrand pulls plug on 11-month-old government after coalition partners refuse to sign hardline ’10-point plan’ to stop ALL asylum seekers
BREAKING: Netherlands plunged into chaos just weeks before hosting NATO summit as anti-Islam leader storms out over immigration demands
Geert Wilders has sensationally QUIT the Dutch coalition government, plunging the Netherlands into political turmoil after his far-right party walked out over a bitter row about migration.
The controversial anti-Islam firebrand announced on Tuesday morning that his Party for Freedom (PVV) was leaving the fragile four-party coalition, declaring: “No signature for our asylum plans,” he posted on X on Tuesday. “PVV is leaving the coalition.”
The dramatic collapse comes just 11 months after the government took office – and a mere three weeks before the Netherlands is scheduled to host a crucial NATO summit in The Hague.
Wilders, who won the most seats in the November 2023 election on a hardline anti-immigration platform, had issued an ultimatum demanding his coalition partners immediately sign up to his radical 10-point plan to slash migration or face the consequences.
“The gloves are off,” Wilders said. He added that if immigration policy is not toughened up, his party “is out of the Cabinet.
‘We have too many foreigners, too much Islam’
In extraordinary scenes at a press conference, Wilders declared: “The streetscape of our cities and neighborhoods has changed beyond recognition due to mass migration and Islamization,” he said. “We have too many foreigners, too much Islam, there is a lack of respect for our culture and our people.”
The 60-year-old populist, who has built his entire political career on anti-Islam rhetoric, demanded his coalition partners sign on to extreme measures that legal experts warned would violate international law.
His explosive 10-point plan included:
- A COMPLETE ban on all asylum seekers entering the Netherlands
- Using the ARMY to guard land borders and turn people away
- Closing ALL asylum centers and shelters
- Deporting 60,000 Syrian refugees claiming Syria is now “safe
- Halting family reunification for refugees already in the country
- A “one strike you’re out” policy – deporting any migrant convicted of crimes
- Withdrawing from European human rights conventions
He said he wants to temporarily halt family reunions for asylum-seekers who have been granted refugee status, and to return to their home country Syrians who have applied for asylum or are in the Netherlands on temporary visas, arguing that much of Syria is now safe.
Coalition partners FURIOUS as government falls
The collapse sparked immediate fury from Wilders’ now-former coalition partners, who accused him of putting his ego before the country.
“If your goal is to blow things up, just say so,” Dilan Yesilgöz, leader of the right-wing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, told reporters after the hour-long meeting.
He chooses his own ego and his own interests,” Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, leader of Rutte’s former party, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, told Dutch broadcaster NOS in Google-translated comments. “I am astonished. He is throwing away the chance of a right-wing policy. This is super irresponsible,” she said.
Caroline van der Plas, leader of the populist Farmers Citizens Movement, was equally scathing: “The Netherlands does not like quitters.” She later added: “He has all the trumps in his hand and yet he just pulls the plug” and called his actions “irresponsible.”
Governing the country is something different than threatening on social media,” said Caroline van der Plas, leader of the BBB. “This is completely irresponsible, reckless and incomprehensible for anyone who hoped for change.”
‘At least a year and a half of standstill’
The centrist NSC party leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven said: “This is incredible,” leader of the centrist NSC party Nicolien van Vroonhoven said. “It is irresponsible to take down the government at this point.”
The BBB party said the fall of the government now means “at least a year and a half of standstill,” with left-leaning parties more likely to take over and put forward more lenient asylum policies.
PM yet to respond as chaos unfolds
Prime Minister Dick Schoof, the independent bureaucrat who leads the government, has not yet responded to the dramatic resignations. Wilders said he had informed Prime Minister Dick Schoof that all ministers from his PVV party would quit the government.
The collapse comes after This was at least the third time that Wilders threatened to topple the government if his demands on asylum weren’t met.
‘I promised voters the strictest asylum policy ever’
Defending his decision, Wilders insisted: “The PVV promised voters the strictest asylum policy ever,” including a proposal to “close the borders to asylum-seekers,” Wilders told reporters Tuesday morning. When his coalition partners refused to sign up to the plans, “I had no choice but to say: We rescind support for this Cabinet,” he said.
He added: “I signed up to the strictest asylum policy, not the downfall of The Netherlands.”
Coalition ‘looked like fools’ – critics
Rob Jetten, president of the liberal D66 party, didn’t hold back: “If it hadn’t happened today, it would have happened sometime in the next few weeks,” Rob Jetten, the president of the liberal D66 party, told NOS. He criticized the government for making few decisions and having too many “squabbles and crises,” saying the other coalition parties had been taken “hostage” by Wilders.
The conservative VVD’s Dilan Yesilgoz delivered a stinging assessment: “This is making us look like a fool,” the leader of the conservative VVD party Dilan Yesilgoz said. “There is a war on our continent. Instead of meeting the challenge, Wilders is showing he is not willing to take responsibility.
Migration minister’s failures
The collapse follows months of failure by PVV’s own Migration Minister Marjolein Faber to implement promised policies. The Schoof I Cabinet started with a proud announcement that it would have the “strictest asylum policy ever.” But 11 months since it took office, Faber has implemented hardly any of the announced plans.
Several courts have ordered Faber to keep funding overnight shelters for asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies and to reverse budget cuts on the asylum aid organization Vluchtelingenwerk. Almost all her bills were met with criticism from the Council of State, the involved Inspectorates, and the Netherlands’ Ombudsmen.
What happens next?
With PVV out, the others parties have the theoretical option to try and proceed as a minority government. They are not expected to, and have yet to confirm it.
New elections now look inevitable, potentially handing power back to left-wing parties who favor more liberal immigration policies.
Wilders won the most recent election in the Netherlands, but recent polls show he has lost support since joining government. Polls now put his party at around 20% of the votes, roughly at par with the Labour/Green combination that is currently the second-largest in parliament.
Timeline of chaos
November 2023: Wilders’ PVV wins most seats in election on anti-immigration platform July 2024: Coalition government finally formed after months of negotiations October 2024: Government agrees initial asylum measuresFebruary 2025: Wilders threatens to quit over asylum bills May 26, 2025: Wilders unveils radical 10-point plan June 2, 2025: Crisis talks fail, Wilders says “it doesn’t look good” June 3, 2025: Wilders pulls plug, government collapses
The controversial demands that broke the camel’s back
Wilders’ 10-point plan that sparked the crisis included:
- Complete asylum stop – Turn away ALL asylum seekers at borders
- Military deployment – Use army to patrol and secure borders
- Close all shelters – Shut down asylum accommodation centers
- Mass deportations – Send home 60,000 Syrian refugees
- Family ban – Stop refugees bringing family members
- Criminal deportations – “One strike you’re out” policy
- Scrap housing laws – End priority housing for refugees
- Leave EU conventions – Withdraw from human rights treaties
- Police crackdowns – Tougher action on protests
- Sack “weak” mayors – Fire officials who won’t enforce hardline policies
Legal experts warned many measures would violate international law and EU treaties.
The dramatic collapse leaves the Netherlands facing months of political uncertainty at a critical time for European security, with the NATO summit looming and the war in Ukraine continuing to rage on the continent’s eastern borders.
Image: Geert WILDERS European Parliament EP-022080 (cropped)
Author: European Parliament
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Source: Wikimedia Commons
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