A new coalition government for the Netherlands is far off as parties have yet to agree on common ground over the rule of law with far-right leader Geert Wilders let alone open negotiations, the official scouting out the early approaches said on Monday.
Wilders’ nationalist Freedom Party (PVV) was the clear winner of the Nov. 22 election, but with around a quarter of the total vote he needs to find partners to build a workable governing coalition.
His two key prospective partners, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD and centrist upstart NSC, have expressed serious doubts about working with Wilders.
His party program called for the abolition of mosques and the Koran in the Netherlands, which would go against the Dutch constitution’s right of freedom of religion, as well as banning Muslim schools, which would be against the constitutional freedom of education, and a referendum on leaving the EU.
While EU membership is not anchored in the constitution, it is also a red line for the other parties, which do not want to leave the EU.
Wilders has repeatedly said he is willing to shelve these issues in order to form a government, but parties want stronger guarantees that he will not seek any measures that are deemed unconstitutional.
