Hard-right victory in Netherlands could become headache for Brussels

The number is far from an absolute majority, but it is enough to enable its veteran leader, Geert Wilders, to lead a possible coalition government.

One of his signature proposals during the electoral campaign was a binding referendum on leaving the European Union. 

Eric Mamer, a spokesperson for the European Commission, said that they are not worried for now.

“Elections take place at regular intervals in the member states. And this is not per se, putting in doubt in any way the membership of any country to the European Union,” Mamer told reporters.

“We continue to count on the Netherlands’ strong participation in the European Union.”

Even if a so-called ‘Nexit’ is unlikely to happen, there are three major sources of concern at the EU level if Wilders takes power, according to Doru Frantescu, CEO & founder of think tank EU Matrix.

Firstly, a hard stance on immigration, military aid to Ukraine and the EU’s long-term budget.

“The Dutch government cannot make a U-turn on Ukraine, but still, there will be some difficulties in reaching a consensus,” he told Euronews.

“Thirdly, I think we could see, with Wilders in power, a much more critical position of the Dutch government when it comes to the budget of the European Union, the multiannual financial framework, which will have to be soon enough negotiated.

“Even with a more pro-European government in the Netherlands, we have seen the Dutch being quite critical, pushing for not increasing the EU budget. Now, with this new government, it can be even more so the case.”

However, Wilders’ party needs at least 76 members of the Parliament to secure a majority and coalition talks will probably take a long time, given that the last Dutch government was formed only 10 months after the elections.

“The big question is whether the Dutch will be able to put together a government before or after the next European election,” Frantescu said.

“I think that’s going to be very important for Europe, especially because the question is who is going to represent the Netherlands next June, July when the new European Commission is going to be set up and the priorities of the new political cycle in Europe will be negotiated.”

He added that the result in the Netherlands is not necessarily a sign of a far-right or Eurosceptic surge in Europe, but rather a trend based on every national outcome depending more on the internal political cycle.