Right-wing, four-party government formed in the Netherlands
By
Derek Bell
21 October 2017
Last week, after a record-breaking 209 days of coalition negotiations, Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the pro-business VVD party confirmed a successful agreement had been reached and that he will head the Dutch government for the third time. After the collapse of the Social Democratic party in last March’s elections, Rutte was forced to piece together a new coalition.
When initial talks broke down between the VVD and the Green Party over the latter’s immigration policy not being sufficiently right-wing, Rutte then cobbled together a coalition of four parties that represent some of the most backward and reactionary tendencies in Dutch politics. The right-wing Christian Democrats (CDA-19 seats) along with the even more socially conservative Christian Union (ChristienUnie-5 seats) have been lumped together with the staunchly pro-EU D66 party (19 seats) and Rutte’s neoliberal VVD (33 seats).
Back in March, when Gert Wilders and his extreme right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) were unable to win the largest number of votes, leaders across Europe lauded the results as a victory over the growing influence of the far right. However, as the WSWS pointed out just after the results came in this celebratory claim has turned out to be utterly farcical.
This coalition has a narrow 76-74 majority in a parliament which is divided among 13 parties. The nine parties in opposition run the gamut from the ultra-right PVV, with 20 seats, the second largest, to the three parties of the official “left” (Green Left, Socialist Party and Social Democrats, with 37 seats between them), with 17 seats divided among advocates of animal rights, senior citizens, Turkish immigrants, Dutch Reformed Church…