Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders appears to have abandoned his promise of a referendum on the Netherlands' exit from the European Union, according to his party's manifesto for the European elections published on Friday. His Freedom Party (PVV) won a large victory in the Dutch legislative elections in November and the latest polls also show him favorite in the European election, which will take place from June 6 to 9 in the Netherlands.
While the manifesto for the November elections clearly stated:
“the PVV wants a binding referendum on Nexit”
, such a commitment is absent from its campaign for the European elections. Wilders has since his election victory struggled to convince other parties to form a government - mainly due to his Islamophobic and anti-EU views. But his promise not to run for the post of Prime Minister unblocked the talks between his PVV and three other parties on the right of the board. Negotiations which are still ongoing and should last several months.
Gert Wilders retains his Euroscepticism
The tone of the manifesto, however, remains fiercely Eurosceptic:
“No European superstate for us (...) we will work hard to change the Union from the inside
,” he indicates.
“Cooperating with other countries is good, but while preserving our sovereignty and our national identity
. ”
The PVV called for an end to
the “expansion of unelected Eurocrats in Brussels”
and criticized the
“veritable tsunami”
of European environmental regulations.
“It's up to us whether we eat meat, fly, or drive a gas car. Not in Brussels
,” says the manifesto. The PVV failed to win a single seat in the 2019 European Parliament elections, but polls show it is likely to win the majority of seats in the Netherlands in the upcoming vote. The party is part of the Identity and Democracy group, which also includes the French National Rally and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) among its members.