On Thursday, the major groups in the European Parliament received the news of the victory of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands' elections with caution, awaiting the government coalitions and their consequences for the European Union.
RELATED:
Led by the anti-Islamist and Eurosceptic Geert Wilders, the PVV is currently the largest party in the Dutch Parliament. It secured 37 out of 150 available seats. While the PVV holds no European seats, its political positions align with parties such as France's National Rally, Alternative for Germany, and Italy's League.
"In one of the greenest and most pro-European countries, voters rejected the EU," celebrated the Italian Marco Zanni, particularly criticizing former Prime Minister Mark Rutte and former Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans.
Zanni applauded the Dutch for voting for "those who prioritize criticizing the EU, protecting identity against Islamic fundamentalism, and ensuring citizens' security."
From the group of Conservatives and Reformists, which also includes another Dutch far-right party (Forum for Democracy), Nicola Procaccini considers the results "a significant shift of support to the right and a strong rejection" of Timmermans, who led the left-wing bloc formed by the social democrat PvdA and the Greens GroenLinks (PvdA-GL).
"It's not the outcome we wanted or expected, but we are proud of the PvdA-GroenLinks campaign led by Frans Timmermans and the strong message it conveyed about equality, inclusion, and diversity against the antidemocratic politics of hatred," said the head of European social democrats, Iratxe Garcia.
Without delving into the chances of success for an alternative coalition to be led by Wilders, Garcia insisted that their parties will "never" join a coalition with the far right, something that "has been absolutely clear throughout the campaign and could not be more emphatic now."
From the second formation of this Dutch left-wing coalition, the co-chair of the Greens/EFA group, Philippe Lamberts, acknowledged that achieving 25 out of 150 seats when combining greens and social democrats is "not something we are celebrating."
"I don't know how many centuries have to pass for the right and some left-wing parties to realize that the more they talk about far-right issues, the more the far right will prevail. We've seen it time and time again. If you make migration the main theme of your campaign, then the far-right candidate will prevail. We are seeing it all over Europe," he warned.
A future coalition of all center parties, including liberals, greens, social democrats, and conservatives, will depend on the determination of these formations. However, Lamberts sees it possible for them to "work together in some way" if they show "a bit of spirit of compromise and realism."
"The extremes are growing everywhere, although a broad majority of Dutch voters want a pro-EU and tolerant government. This is a warning for Europe and the upcoming European Parliament elections," said the leader of the European liberal group, Stephane Sejourne, who believes that responding to right-wing populism requires necessary reforms such as the migration and asylum pact.