AP Photo/Peter Dejong
The Dutch far-right party, PVV appears to have ditched proposed plans for a referendum on the country’s European Union membership in its manifesto in an attempt to form a government.
Geert Wilders, whose anti-Islam, anti-immigration rhetoric swept him to a stunning victory in a November election, appears to be moving his party away from the idea of an EU exit similar to Brexit, saying they will “work hard to change the Union from within” instead.
Last month, Wilders was forced to concede that he does not have the support of his prospective coalition partners to become the next Dutch prime minister.
He took to X, formerly Twitter, to say: “I can only become premier if ALL parties in the coalition support that. That wasn’t the case.”
Since the announcement, Wilders has gradually dropped swathes of anti-Islamic policies and even promised not to be prime minister in the hope of unlocking talks between the PVV and three other centre-Right parties.
The latest concession in a move to the centre ground has seen his promise of a “binding referendum on Nexit” scrubbed from the party’s manifesto ahead of the European parliamentary elections in June.
Instead, the populist remains fiercely opposed to a “European superstate”, with a pledge to “work hard to change the Union from within”.
“Co-operating with other countries is fine, but while keeping our national sovereignty and identity,” the manifesto added.
In the program, Wilders’ party further advocates “cooperation with like-minded people” and an end to “Europhile dreams”.
The PVV also wants to adjust European rules so that member states can determine for themselves how many migrants they accept. The party supports Ukraine in its fight “against the Russian aggressor”, but does not say how much money it wants to allocate for this.
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