Geert Wilders’ shock victory in the Netherlands creates fear as Europe eyes another hard-right win

Once renowned for tolerance, stability, liberalism and its pro-Europe credentials, one of the EU’s wealthiest nations is now a seething hotbed of discontent. Europe will never be the same.

Geert Wilders is a hero to the hard right. Picture montage: The Times

Europe fears a new monster is stirring as the political shockwaves ripple out after the victory won by Geert Wilders and his hard-right nationalist party, an event once seen as beyond the pale.

The Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union and, with the port of Rotterdam – one of the world’s biggest – is at the heart of Europe’s crowning jewel, the single market. Once renowned for tolerance, stability, liberalism and its pro-European credentials, one of the EU’s wealthiest nations is now a seething hotbed of discontent.

If it were only the Netherlands that would be bad enough, but most of the discontents and political trends that have propelled Wilders to victory are writ large across the EU.

Concentrating minds in Brussels seven years after the trauma of British voters backing Brexit, an EU referendum is a core foundation stone of Wilders’ platform. It seems unthinkable that the Netherlands could ever leave, but many recall that Brexit was once unimaginable, and politically impossible too.

Whatever happens, whether Wilders succeeds in building a coalition or not, Europe will never be the same again. Whatever the complexion of a future Dutch government, its role in the EU will be shaped by the spectre of his democratic triumph.

Marine Le Pen, who was close to Geert Wilders during his years in the wilderness, was effusive in her congratulations. Picture: AP

The Netherlands will now be Eurosceptic in a way that will make life much more difficult for Paris and Berlin, which have used Dutch governments as key mediators to find European compromises.

European elections, polls across the EU that are often a lightening rod for popular anger, are looming and capitals across Europe are feeling the fear. If Wilders, once shunned for his extreme nationalist ideas and anti-Muslim jeremiads, is now acceptable to the Dutch, what about elsewhere in Europe? There is something in the air.

Europe’s populist bogeymen and women – in and out of government – are jubilant about the result, a reaction that chills the EU mainstream. “The winds of change are here,” Viktor Orban, the populist Hungarian prime minister, said.

Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, who came from the extreme nationalist right, has kept her powder dry but others in her coalition have not hidden their joy. “A new Europe is possible,” Matteo Salvini, her deputy prime minister, said, welcoming a victory for a “historical ally” of his Lega party.

Tom van Grieken, the leader of Flemish Interest, said the right was rising 'everywhere in Europe'. Picture: Getty Images

In Germany and Spain, too, there was rejoicing from the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Vox parties. Just across the border in Belgium, there was rejoicing from the Flemish Interest party, which has made the journey from a neo-Nazi past to a convincing lead in the opinion polls before an election next year. Its leader, Tom van Grieken, said: “Everywhere in Europe, we see the same right-wing wind blowing. It’s time for change.”

In France, Marine Le Pen, the leader of National Rally, who was Wilders’ closest ally during his long wilderness years, was lavish with her best wishes.

“Congratulations to Geert Wilders and the PVV for their spectacular performance in the legislative elections, which confirms the growing support for the defence of national identities,” she said.

“I am optimistic: it is possible to change the EU into a Union of European Nations. We have the chance to change the majority in the European parliament.”

President Macron’s administration is keen to suppress before EU elections in June a feeling that, if the stolid Dutch can go for Wilders, victory in France must be within Le Pen’s reach.

“The Netherlands are not France,” Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, said. “Fears about the war in Ukraine, the risk of Europe’s economic decline … have resulted in a surge in extremism throughout Europe.”

The Times