RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE: Early elections in the Netherlands are all but certain after negotiations on austerity measures broke down on Saturday. Geert Wilders, leader of the populist Freedom Party, dramatically walked out of the talks at the last minute, just as an agreement seemed imminent.
After one and a half years helping govern the Netherlands by supporting a minority government, Geert Wilders has had enough. Now his Freedom Party movement can go back to a more comfortable role as protest party.
Since leaving the free-market liberal VVD party seven years ago, Mr Wilders has fashioned himself into a populist, anti-establishment politician. The champion of the average working class Joe, a constituency he refers to as ‘Henk and Ingrid’.
Strange bedfellows
That anti-establishment image was severely challenged the moment he signed a governing agreement with two stalwarts of the Dutch establishment, the VVD and the Christian Democrats. Wilders did keep a modicum of distance by not actually participating in the government, merely supporting it from parliament. The Christian Democrats refusal to allow Wilders into the cabinet gave him a convenient excuse not to join the cabinet as a full partner.
Even that distance was not enough. Governing in a coalition system such as here in the Netherlands requires compromise. Mr Wilders, on the other hand, rose to prominence by ridiculing the very culture of compromise. He risked being seen as just another wishy-washy politician, willing to trade away his principles. » | John Tyler | Sunday, April 22, 2012
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