Category Archives: Netherlands

Geert Wilders’ victory confirms upward trajectory of far right in Europe

Posted on by

Dutch general election results show how populist and far-right parties are advancing into political mainstream

Geert Wilders’ shock victory in the Dutch general election confirms the upward trajectory of Europe’s populist and far-right parties, which – with the occasional setback – are continuing their steady march into the mainstream.

There is no guarantee that Wilders, whose anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) won 37 seats in Wednesday’s ballot – more than twice its 2021 total – will be able to form a government with a majority in the Netherlands’ 150-seat parliament.

Continue reading...

Geert Wilders aims to become Dutch PM after shock election win

Posted on by

Far-right leader also says he wants EU exit referendum, as other parties meet to consider joining coalition

Geert Wilders, the leader of the Netherlands’ far-right, anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV), has vowed to try to become prime minister and has said he is in favour of a referendum on the country’s EU membership after his party scored an unexpected and emphatic victory in Wednesday’s general election.

The PVV – whose manifesto included calls for bans on mosques, the Qur’an, and the wearing of Islamic headscarves in government buildings – won 37 seats in the 150-seat parliament, more than double its previous number.

Continue reading...

Geert Wilders aiming to be PM after shock Dutch election result for far-right party and calls for immediate asylum restriction – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

As the Netherlands – and European capitals – assess the unexpected outcome of the Dutch election, Geert Wilders is celebrating with cake.

The Austrian Freedom Party’s Harald Vilimsky said he is proud of his political friends, posting a photo with Italy’s Matteo Salvini, France’s Marine Le Pen and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders.

Continue reading...

European far right celebrates as exit poll puts Wilders’ party in front – as it happened

Posted on by

Voters cast ballots until 9pm in elections that could set country on different course after Mark Rutte’s four consecutive governments

The first exit poll is expected in about 20 minutes. Stay tuned!

More pictures from election day in the Netherlands.

Continue reading...

Netherlands set for first new prime minister in 13 years as voters head to polls

Posted on by

Polls open for general election in the Netherlands, with four parties – ranging from left to far right – vying to take most votes

Dutch voters are voting in a knife-edge general election that will usher in the country’s first new prime minister in 13 years, with four parties from left to far right vying to become the largest in parliament.

From the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam to the islands of the Dutch Caribbean, more than 13 million voters will cast their ballot between 7.30am and 9pm in elections that could set the country on a different course after Mark Rutte’s four consecutive governments.

Continue reading...

‘Extremely venomous’ green mamba on the loose in Netherlands

Posted on by

Police in southern city of Tilburg tell residents to stay indoors after owner reported missing snake

An “extremely venomous” 2-metre green mamba snake is on the loose in the Netherlands, police have said, warning residents to stay indoors and under no circumstances attempt to ensnare the serpent.

Police in the southern city of Tilburg said they were alerted by the mamba’s owner on Monday evening that “he was missing a snake”.

Continue reading...

Final day of campaigning for Dutch politicians as election nears – as it happened

Posted on by

The country’s six main party leaders confronted each other in Rotterdam on Monday night in a TV debate. This live blog is closed

The Dutch housing market is one of the top issues in this week’s election, writes Senay Boztas.

According to I&O research, 86% of Dutch people believe there is a housing “crisis”, and there are 390,000 more house seekers than there are homes.

Continue reading...

Dutch party leaders clash in TV debate as election nears

Posted on by

Frans Timmermans, Geert Wilders and Pieter Omtzigt among those competing for votes in six-way race

Dutch party leaders have clashed in a tetchy televised debate, as the Netherlands election campaign entered its final days.

The country’s six main party leaders confronted each other in Rotterdam on Monday night, as a new poll suggested Frans Timmermans’ GreenLeft/Labour was neck and neck – on 27 seats of a total 150 – with the party that has led the past four governments, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) under Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius.

Continue reading...

Pieter Omtzigt: the Netherlands outsider whose politics is firmly in the centre

Posted on by

A much-admired MP who launched his own party in the summer is hoping for electoral success

• Europe live – latest updates

Usually in European elections the insurgent candidates come from the outer reaches of the political spectrum: the far left or, more often of late, the far right. This one comes solidly from the centre. He could hardly be less fringe if he tried.

Days after Pieter Omtzigt, a Dutch Christian Democrat MP for 18 years, announced in August he was founding a new party to “do politics differently”, it was topping the polls. Two days from the vote, it is vying for the lead in the parliamentary election.

Continue reading...

Far-right Party for Freedom makes gains in poll ahead of Netherlands election

Posted on by

Leftwing parties urge people to vote tactically to prevent Geert Wilders’ party winning power

Leftwing parties in the Netherlands have urged people to vote strategically to avoid a far-right government after a poll showed last-minute gains for Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV).

Wilders, whose manifesto calls for an asylum “stop” and ban on “Islamic schools, Qu’rans and mosques”, said it was a “game changer” when a poll on Saturday evening put him level with Mark Rutte’s party, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

Continue reading...

Dutch parties vie for voters with no faith in government after string of scandals

Posted on by

A benefits fraud affair and claims of institutional racism are among issues that led to crisis of trust before this week’s general election

Sandra Palmen was the whistleblower in a scandal that saw 31,000 Dutch families falsely accused of fraud – often dual nationals, single mothers or working families in less affluent postcodes who were financially and personally ruined by unjustly being made to repay every cent from years of childcare benefits.

But Palmen, a top inhouse lawyer who in 2017 wrote an official memo saying an anti-fraud drive had gone desperately wrong, was the only tax-office employee who was pushed out. Now she is standing for a new political party headed by a campaigning backbencher, Pieter Omtzigt, advocating a social contract to repair a series of government scandals in the Netherlands.

Continue reading...

Amsterdam welcomes decline of nuisance tourism after ‘stay away’ drive

Posted on by

Some locals say number of stag party-type visitors is down after campaign targeting young Britons

“Brits on tour!” laughed Devon Bennett, finishing her English breakfast at the all-day brunch restaurant Greenwoods. The 23-year-old from Brighton was in Amsterdam with 20 old school friends, attracted by the city’s reputation for freedom, fun and frolics. “If weed wasn’t legal,” said her friend Chloé Bishop, “people wouldn’t come here just to get high.”

But there is some evidence that high times are ending for partying Britons, whose stag and hen nights have become a byword for tourist nuisance in Amsterdam’s red light district.

Continue reading...

Love bikes, hate ‘wild parking’ – Dutch city puts rule-breakers on the rack

Posted on by

Maastricht clamps down on cyclists who illegally secure their two-wheelers to lamp-posts or railings

Officials in the Netherlands, a country with more bicycles than people, are tackling a plague of “wild parking” by confiscating illegally stationed bikes and increasing the penalties to get them back.

This year the southern city of Maastricht – beloved of international students – banned people from “orphaning” their bikes by deserting them on the street. Now it is doubling the fines it charges people who want to reclaim impounded bicycles.

Continue reading...

Antisemitism is deeply ingrained in European society, says EU official

Posted on by

Remarks by rights chief come as civil society groups warn of a rise in antisemitism amid Israel-Hamas war

Antisemitism is a “deeply ingrained racism in European society” that poses an existential threat to the continent’s Jewish community and the fundamental aims of the European Union, an EU official has warned.

Michael O’Flaherty, the director of the bloc’s agency for fundamental rights, said it was worrying that only a third of the general population considered antisemitism a big problem, when there was no doubt “dramatic moments in our societies trigger antisemitic responses”.

Continue reading...

Dutch self-image challenged as country confronts its colonial past

Posted on by

Exhibition aims to establish common ground amid fractious debate over violence in post-independence Indonesia

Its political centre, The Hague, may call itself “the city of peace and justice”. But in few European countries is the process of confronting the colonial period proving as fractious and divisive as in the Netherlands, where opposing sides have in recent years struggled to agree on who was victim and who was perpetrator.

This month, an exhibition at Amsterdam’s Nieuwe Kerk gallery space and two new books in a major historical series try to establish common ground over the violence that ensued after Indonesia declared independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1945.

Continue reading...

Dutch throne on display for first time as monarchy tries to win back public

Posted on by

Seat used during state opening of parliament takes centre stage in exhibition about royal power

The Dutch throne has been moved for the first time from the 13th-century Ridderzaal in The Hague to be displayed in an exhibition, as the Netherlands’ monarchy seeks to further open up to the public amid growing republican sentiment.

The wooden chair, upholstered in red velvet, takes centre stage in the Power of the Throne exhibition at Paleis Het Loo, a summer retreat for the House of Orange-Nassau that continued to be used deep into the 20th century.

Continue reading...

Amsterdam sex workers protest against plan to move red light district

Posted on by

Protesters oppose mayor’s plan to move their trade to purpose-built ‘erotic centre’ away from city centre

Sex workers in Amsterdam have protested against the planned transfer of their famed red light district to an out-of-town “erotic centre”, in what is seen as part of a battle for the city’s soul.

Dozens of people, many wearing masks to shield their identity, marched through the streets towards City Hall, one carrying a banner saying: “If sex workers are not to blame then why are we being punished?”

Continue reading...

Pokémon no go: Van Gogh Museum stops free cards amid tout chaos

Posted on by

Booming resale market for cards featuring Pikachu in style of Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait With Grey Felt Hat

They are more commonly associated with pop concerts or football matches than art exhibitions. But rows of ticket touts have become a familiar sight outside the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in recent weeks as they seek to get their hands on a limited edition Pokémon card.

There was so much interest in the card, which was being offered as part of an exhibition of modern art by Pokémon artists inspired by Van Gogh’s links to Japanese culture, that the museum has clamped down.

Continue reading...

Attacks across Europe put Islamist extremism back in spotlight

Posted on by

Even before the war in Gaza, authorities have been warning of rise in Islamist terrorism on the continent

For months now, authorities charged with keeping Europe safe from Islamist extremist violence have been sounding the alarm. In May, Dutch security services warned that the terrorist threat from Islamic State to Europe had increased. The same month, the French interior minister said the risk of Islamist terrorism was rising again and that his own country was being targeted, as well as its neighbours.

In recent days, these pessimistic forecasts appear to have been vindicated. France is deploying 7,000 extra troops on to its streets after a teacher was fatally stabbed on Friday in an attack that Emmanuel Macron condemned as “barbaric Islamic terrorism”. The suspected attacker swore an oath of allegiance to IS in an audio recording on his phone shortly before the killing, prosecutors have said.

Continue reading...

Solar-powered off-road car finishes 620-mile test drive across north Africa

Posted on by

The Stella Terra was designed by students at Eindhoven University of Technology and completed trip without recharging

A solar-powered car said to be the first in the world capable of driving off-road over long distances without recharging has completed a 620-mile (1,000km) test drive across Morocco and the Sahara.

The two-seat Stella Terra, designed by students at the Eindhoven University of Technology, completed the journey across a variety of challenging landscapes as part of a final test of its lightweight frame and aerodynamic profile.

Continue reading...