Irish Times/EU-Digest: Dark Clouds above Dutch Political Environment - Geert Wilders: anti-Islam stance wins controversy and votes - by James Smyth

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Dark Clouds above Dutch Political Environment - Geert Wilders: anti-Islam stance wins controversy and votes - by James Smyth

Wilders’s Party for Freedom (PVV), which he founded in 2004, is campaigning on a populist platform of law and order, cracking down on immigration and opposing Turkish accession to the EU. It is forecast to pick up four of the 25 Dutch seats in the European Parliament. Wilders (45) is an outspoken opponent of the EU, telling journalists: “Every voter who wants to signal that the European Union is good for nothing in its current form can do so by voting for Geert Wilders.” However he has made his name and captured worldwide public attention by criticizing Islam, recently calling for the Koran to be banned and proposing a five-year prohibition on the founding of any new mosques and Islamic schools in the Netherlands.

A recent opinion poll published by Dutch pollster Maurice de Hond found the PVV is now the most popular party in the Netherlands. The poll predicted it would pick up 27 seats in the 160-seat Dutch parliament while the ruling CDA, the Christian Democratic Appeal, would be second at 26 seats and Labour (PVDA) third on 21 seats. The Democrats 66 would get 19, the Socialists (SP) would get 18 and the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) 17 seats. “Wilders will be successful in this European election and will probably capture up to 18 per cent of the vote,” says Dr Andrew Krouwel at the politics department of Free University Amsterdam. “If a general election were held, this would enable him to certainly double and perhaps triple his representation in the national parliament, which currently stands at nine seats.”

Note EU-Digest: The Dutch who have a reputation for being clever business people certainly are not using their brains when it comes to politics these days.

Geert Wilders, a populist without any real plan, is styling his political campaign based on feeding hatred and discontent into an already confused Dutch electorate, who seem to have little or no knowledge on the benefits of belonging to the EU. This comes as a result of very poor Government communication and information about the EU. In addition, there has also been very little debate in the local Dutch press about the EU, since the local press is basically on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of reduced readership and advertising income. Consequently the local Dutch press has thrown overboard any kind of in-depth journalism and instead embraced sensationalism to beef up their dwindling reader base. Since Mr. Wilders fits perfectly in this "sensationalist" category, he obviously has most of the Dutch press "salivating" over every bit of nonsense that comes out of his mouth. As to the traditional Dutch political parties, many of them have just have buried their head in the sand for self preservation.

Fortunately, as many political insiders believe, Mr. Wilders will eventually fade-out of the Dutch political system, like many other populist politicians before him. One can only hope that the damage he has already done to the social and political fabric of the Netherlands won't be permanent.