Dutch Far-Right Leader Wilders Quits Coalition, Toppling Government
Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders said on Tuesday his PVV party would leave the governing coalition, toppling the right-wing government and likely leading to new elections.
Wilders said his coalition partners were not willing to embrace his ideas on halting asylum migration, for which he had demanded immediate support last week.
"No signature under our asylum plans. The PVV leaves the coalition," Wilders said in a post on X.
Wilders' surprise move ends an already fragile coalition which has struggled to reach any consensus since its installation last July.
It will likely bring new elections in a few months, adding to political uncertainty in the euro zone's fifth-largest economy.
It will likely also delay a decision on a possibly historic increase in defense spending to meet new NATO targets.
And it will leave the Netherlands with only a caretaker government when it receives NATO country leaders for a summit to decide on these targets in The Hague later this month.
Anti-Muslim populist Wilders won the most recent election in the Netherlands, but recent polls have shown he has lost support since joining government.
Polls now put his party roughly at par with the Labor/Green combination that is currently the second-largest in parliament.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
14 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Feuding Trump and Musk are now not expected to speak on Friday
US President Donald Trump and his one-time close ally billionaire Elon Musk were now not expected to talk on Friday, despite efforts by White House aides to get a truce after a huge public clash the previous day. A White House official told Reuters that no call was planned for Friday. A White House official had said earlier that the two men would speak on Friday. A call could ease the feuding after an extraordinary day of hostilities - largely conducted over social media - that marked a stark end to a close alliance. Shares in Musk's Tesla closed down over 14 percent on Thursday, losing about $150 billion in market value in the largest single-day decline in value in the electric vehicle maker's history. In pre-market trading on Friday they pared some of those losses, rising as much as 5 percent after the early news that the two men were scheduled to speak. Musk had bankrolled a large part of Trump's presidential campaign and was then brought as one of the president's most visible advisers, heading up a sweeping and controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending. The verbal punches erupted on Thursday after Trump criticized Musk in the Oval Office and the pair then traded barbs on their social media platforms: Trump's Truth Social and Musk's X. The falling-out had begun brewing days ago when Musk, who left his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency a week ago, denounced Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill.
Arab News
15 hours ago
- Arab News
Dutch election set for October 29 after government falls
THE HAGUE: The Netherlands will hold snap elections on October 29, authorities announced Friday, after far-right leader Geert Wilders pulled out of the ruling coalition, bringing down the government and sparking political chaos. 'We have officially set the election date: the... elections will take place on Wednesday 29 October 2025,' Interior Minister Judith Uitermark wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 'In the coming period, I will work with the municipalities and other stakeholders to prepare so that this important day in our democracy goes smoothly,' added the minister. The vote in the European Union's fifth-largest economy and major global exporter will be closely watched in Europe, where far-right parties have made significant electoral gains. Polls suggest Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) is running neck-and-neck with the Left/Green group of former European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans. The liberal VVD party stands just behind in the polls, suggesting the election will be closely fought. The election was prompted by the dramatic withdrawal of Wilders and the PVV from a shaky ruling coalition in a row over immigration policy. Wilders grumbled that the Netherlands was not fast enough to implement the 'strictest-ever' immigration policy agreed by the four-way coalition – and pulled out. He had stunned the political establishment in the Netherlands by winning November 2023 elections by a significant margin – clinching 37 seats out of the 150 in parliament. The fractured nature of Dutch politics means no one party is ever strong enough to win 76 seats and govern with an absolute majority. Wilders persuaded the VVD, the BBB farmers party, and the anti-corruption NSC party to govern with him – but the price was to give up his ambition to become prime minister. The PVV has apparently lost some support since that election, with recent surveys suggesting they would win around 28 to 30 seats. But the issue after the coming election will be: who will enter into a coalition with Wilders and the PVV? There was widespread fury with the far-right leader for bringing down the government over what many saw as an artificial crisis. Far-right parties have been on the rise across Europe. In May, the far-right Chega ('Enough') party took second place in Portugal's elections. In Germany, the anti-immigration far-right AfD doubled its score in legislative elections in February, reaching 20.8 percent. And in Britain, polls show the anti-immigration, hard-right Reform UK party of Nigel Farage is making significant gains following a breakthrough in local elections.
Al Arabiya
18 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
From bros to foes: How the unlikely Trump-Musk relationship imploded
When Donald Trump met privately with White House officials on Wednesday, there was little to suggest that the US president was close to a public break with Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman who helped him win a second term in office. Two White House officials familiar with the matter said Trump expressed confusion and frustration in the meeting about Musk's attacks on his sweeping tax and spending bill. But he held back, the officials said, because he wanted to preserve Musk's political and financial support ahead of the midterm elections. By Thursday afternoon, Trump's mood had shifted. He had not spoken to Musk since the attacks began and was fuming over a tirade by the Tesla CEO on X, his social media platform. Musk had blasted Trump's tax bill as fiscally reckless and a 'disgusting abomination.' He vowed to oppose any Republican lawmaker who supported it. The bill would fulfill many of Trump's priorities while adding, according to the Congressional Budget Office, $2.4 trillion to the $36.2-trillion US public debt. Privately, Trump had called Musk volatile. On Thursday, he told his team, it was time to take the gloves off. Sitting next to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters he was 'very disappointed' in his former adviser. Musk quickly hit back on social media, and the back-and-forth devolved from there. 'The easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate Elon's government subsidies and contracts,' Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media site. Within minutes, Musk said it might be time to create a new political party and endorsed a post on X from Ian Miles Cheong, a prominent Musk supporter and right-wing activist, calling for Trump's impeachment. The Trump-Musk relationship at its height was unprecedented in Washington - a sitting president granting a billionaire tech CEO access and influence inside the White House and throughout his government. Musk spent nearly $300 million backing Trump's campaign and other Republicans last year. For months, Musk played both insider and disruptor - shaping policy conversations behind the scenes, amplifying Trump's agenda to millions online, and attacking the bureaucracy and federal spending through his self-styled Department of Government Efficiency. Just last week, Trump hosted a farewell for Musk and declared that 'Elon is really not leaving.' Now he had not only left but had turned into a top critic. Hours after Trump's Oval Office remarks, a third White House official expressed surprise at Musk's turnaround. It 'caught the president and the entire West Wing off guard,' she said. Musk did not respond to emails seeking comment about the downturn in relations. His super PAC spending group, America PAC, and spokeswoman Katie Miller did not respond to calls and texts requesting comment. In a statement, the White House called the breakup an 'unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.' From allies to adversaries The Musk-Trump breakup sent Tesla's stock price plunging 14 percent on Thursday and drove uncertainty among Trump's allies in Congress, who are working to pass the monumental spending package that Democrats and a small number of vocal Republicans oppose. The breakup could reshape both men's futures. For Trump, losing Musk's backing threatens his growing influence among tech donors, social media audiences, and younger male voters — key groups that may now be harder to reach. It could also complicate fundraising ahead of next year's midterm elections. For Musk, the stakes are potentially even higher. The break risks intensified scrutiny of his business practices that could jeopardize government contracts and invite regulatory probes, which might threaten his companies' profits. Some of Musk's friends and associates were stunned by the fallout, with a number of them only recently expressing confidence that the partnership would endure, according to two other sources familiar with the dynamics. The split had been simmering for weeks, said the first two White House officials, but the breaking point was over personnel: Trump's decision to pull his nomination of Jared Isaacman, Musk's hand-picked candidate to be NASA administrator. 'He was not happy' about Isaacman, one of the White House officials said of Musk. Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and close Musk ally, was seen as key to advancing Musk's vision for space exploration and commercial space ventures. After his nomination was scuttled, Isaacman posted on X: 'I am incredibly grateful to President Trump, the Senate and all those who supported me.' The move was viewed within the administration as a direct snub to Musk, the two officials said, signaling a loss of political clout and deepening the rift between him and Trump's team. Before the Isaacman episode, top White House aides behind the scenes had already begun limiting Musk's influence — quietly walking back his authority over staffing and budget decisions. Trump himself reinforced that message in early March, telling his cabinet that department secretaries, not Musk, had the final say over agency operations. At the same time, Musk began to hint that his time in government would come to a close, while expressing frustration at times that he could not more aggressively cut spending. His threats and complaints about Trump's bill grew louder, but inside the White House, few believed they would seriously alter the course of the legislation — even as some worried about the fallout on the midterms from Musk's warnings to cut political spending, the first two White House officials said. Still, a fourth White House official dismissed the impact of Musk's words on the president's signature bill. 'We're very confident,' he said. 'No one has changed their minds.' But there was bafflement at the White House at how a relationship that only last week had been celebrated in the Oval Office had taken such a turn. Time will tell whether the rift can be repaired. White House aides have scheduled a call between the two men on Friday.
