Fighting a Losing Battle: Why the Dutch Government Quit

Lauren Vanden Heuvel

Overview

On June 3rd, 2025, the governing coalition in the Netherlands collapsed due to the coalition leader, Geert Wilders, withdrawing his party on grounds of migration policy. This withdrawal ended the nearly year-long rule in the Netherlands of its first far-right governing coalition, triggering early elections scheduled for the latter half of the year. The decision to withdraw the coalition from the government stemmed from the debate over unauthorized migration and the subsequent influx of people entering the Netherlands, as well as Europe as a whole, to seek asylum and better economic opportunities that were not available in their countries of origin. Wilders’s party, Partij voor de Vriheid (Party for Freedom), has advocated for the halting of asylum seekers, specifically targeting Muslim migration, as he has sought to ban the Quran and to close Islamic schools in the Netherlands. After posting on X that the reason for withdrawal was the partnering parties’ refusal to sign off on his migration policy proposals, Wilders announced the withdrawal under the context of not finding consensus, which ultimately plunged the country into political uncertainty for the remainder of the year until elections. 

Recent Dutch Far-Right Politics

The Partij voor de Vriheid (PVV) is a populist party in the Netherlands. Founded by political leader and party chairman Geert Wilders in 2006, its guiding principles include promoting anti-immigration and anti-Islamic policies. Apart from xenophobic sentiments, the PVV advocates for Euroskepticism, a belief that includes being opposed to European integration and being an advocate of European Union withdrawal. The PVV made waves in recent years with their party leader, Wilders, forming a coalition government with three other right-wing parties in the Netherlands, which successfully won power and mainstreamed previously shunned right-wing ideology. In November 2023, in the historically liberal country of the Netherlands, Wilders and his party won 37 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, making the PVV the largest party in the House. This gave Wilders enough support to form a governing coalition with the centrist and center-right parties. 

Implications for the Dutch Population

The shift in popularity towards far-right parties is not an isolated event in the Netherlands; instead, these Dutch political events reflect a broader, growing sentiment towards the far-right not only in Western Europe but globally. Over the past decade, the far-right in Europe has become mainstream and normalized, invoking fear and subsequent support by blaming economic and political crises on refugees and Muslims. Whether it’s Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s usurpation of national media or German far-right leader Bjorn Hocke’s support for a German ethnostate, the far-right has infiltrated all levels of democracy in Europe. 

However, the recent growing popularity of far-right ideology in Europe did not arise out of thin air; it has been growing quietly across Europe. Specifically in the Netherlands, since the inception of the PVV, Wilders has successfully tapped into the discontent and anxiety of the Dutch people, cultivating a following by promising to alleviate such feelings. Through blaming the economic and cultural insecurities of the Netherlands on a specific marginalized group (such as Muslims or Middle Eastern refugees), Wilders has developed a unified following by appealing to a combined sense of victimhood and nationalism, effectively redirecting public frustration toward an external “other” and consolidating political power through exclusionary rhetoric. Wilders has consistently called for an end to immigration from Muslim countries, a tax for wearing headscarves, and a ban on the Quran. However, through championing long-standing issues Dutch citizens are concerned with, like immigration and affordable housing shortages, Dutch voters have overlooked Wilders’s divisive statements and have normalized Wilders’s platform. 

Election Predictions & Conclusion

If the left and center parties want to make gains in the House, then these parties need to address the issues the far-right is doing without pointing fingers at certain marginalized groups. The reaction to Wilder’s actions in power should reflect that positive change is possible through policy and that the true “enemy” is not the immigrant but the structures that concentrate wealth and social inequality. 

Left-wing politicians can respond to the far-right scapegoating by offering credible economic and social policy solutions that would rebuild trust in government and unify the state. One issue of particular importance to Dutch citizens is the availability of affordable housing. Instead of blaming immigrants for the shortage of housing opportunities, politicians can emphasize a push for large-scale investment in public housing in high-demand urban areas, as well as advocate for accelerated construction of mixed-income housing developments. This push would reframe the housing issue as one of underinvestment rather than immigration. 

Shifting the framing of certain issues Dutch citizens care about away from immigration can have a positive effect on the attitudes towards immigrants. If the Dutch people are serious about halting the entrenchment of far-right ideology in their government, they should stop letting far-right fear-mongering define political issues in their state. Left-wing leaders should reject scapegoating, and as a whole, Dutch politicians should advocate for real solutions to issues that matter to Dutch citizens rather than allowing far-right leaders to remain in power and marginalize groups that are simply seeking social and economic opportunities in the Netherlands.