Wilders celebrates the “great progress” of his party in the Europeans, despite the apparent triumph of the center-left

June 7 () –

The European elections in the Netherlands have concluded with the apparent victory of the center-left parties, with a markedly pro-European vision, to the detriment of the formations called to form the future coalition government, although the far-right Geert Wilders has highlighted that his Freedom Party (PVV) has achieved “great progress” compared to the 2019 elections.

The exit polls published on Thursday at the close of the polling stations awarded eight of the 31 seats at stake to the alliance between the Labor Party and the Green Left. The social democrat Frans Timmermans, former European commissioner, has celebrated this apparent good result on social networks, which will not be confirmed until Sunday night after the end of the vote in all member states.

Wilders’ PVV, for its part, would have achieved seven MEPs, despite the fact that in the outgoing legislature it did not have any. This Friday, the far-right leader thanked the voters who have allowed “the best result and the greatest progress ever achieved in the European elections.”

Likewise, he took the opportunity to “proudly” claim the 2023 electoral victory, thanks to which the PVV will “soon” join the Government. It will not be with Wilders as prime minister, since to overcome the misgivings that his figure arouses, the budding coalition will opt for a former head of the Intelligence services, Dick Schoof.

If these exit polls, published by public television, are true, Wilders will be far from the 18 seats that a recent survey awarded him. According to the NOS network, almost six out of ten supporters of the parties that will make up the new Government opted to abstain on Thursday.

The vote in the Netherlands marked the beginning of four days of elections in a total of 27 countries and, among the forecasts for these next few days, is the apparent rise of far-right parties such as Wilders’ in several countries. The Dutch leader, who has put aside his calls to remove the Netherlands from the EU, has called for new alliances to be forged in the European Parliament.