Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch far-right PVV Freedom Party, speaks to media representatives after the provisional results of the European Parliament elections were announced on June 6, 2024 in The Hague.
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Dutch populist leader Geert Wilders has described the EU as a “monster” that should no longer be given more decision-making powers by member states.
Wilders rejected the idea of EU-wide taxes and greater political union, telling CNBC the region needed less integration, not more.
“Europe is a monster, the European Union, and if you give it more power, they just want more and they won’t give it back,” the Liberal leader said on Sunday.
Wilders believes that the economic cooperation that underpinned the EU has evolved into deep-rooted political integration among the 27 member states.
“It’s too late to end it, but please let us bring some power back to the capital,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy this weekend. For example, powers on immigration.
“All the politicians who are really out of sync with European voters say, ‘We want more integration,’ but the people don’t want that, they want their (domestic) problems to be solved.”
“I believe that most decisions should be the responsibility of nation-states and national parliaments,” added Wilders, an increasingly influential figure in Europe’s far-right politics.
In recent years, his Freedom Party (PVV) has become part of the political mainstream, upending the status quo in the Netherlands and beyond.
In the Dutch general election last November, the PVV won an overwhelming victory, occupying 35 of the 150 seats in the Dutch House of Representatives. The increase in the party’s support reached its peak.
However, the PVV had to find a coalition partner to form a majority government, and a deal was only reached after Wilders agreed that he would not be the country’s new prime minister. The four parties in the coalition eventually selected Dick Schof, the former head of the Dutch intelligence service, as prime minister.
On July 2, 2024, former Prime Minister Mark Rutte (right) and new Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schof attended the handover ceremony in Tollenger, The Hague.
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There is no doubt that Wilders remains a central and driving force in Dutch politics, however, his anti-immigration and Eurosceptic stance has caused headaches for the European Commission.
The long-standing goal of the EU is to “closer alliance” But some increasingly fractious member states — anxious about migration and lacking a coherent EU policy on the issue — have begun to fight back.
Although Wilders is one of the EU’s fiercest critics and had called for the Netherlands to leave the bloc, he told CNBC he has now backed away from that stance, saying it was “too late” for a so-called “Brexit” ”.
Wilders instead wants an “opt-out” policy on EU-wide asylum rules, while his party says it will pursue “the most restrictive access policy ever” on immigration.
“It’s important to work to strengthen our borders, but ultimately, we have to act across the country,” he said on Sunday.
“We have to be responsible for our own immigration rules, our own asylum rules, our own border controls. Any country that cannot decide who is welcome in its home is not a real country,” he added. opt-out” system. The European Commission declined to comment on Wilders’ remarks when contacted by CNBC on Monday.
Populist and nationalist parties have made huge political gains across Europe over the past decade amid an influx of migrants from the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, including those fleeing conflict and persecution seeking asylum in the European Union. Seeking better economic prospects.
Syrian and Iraqi migrants sleep on railway tracks while waiting to be processed across the Macedonian border in Idomeni, Greece, September 2, 2015. Since the beginning of 2015, there has been a surge in the number of migrants using the so-called “Balkan route”, which sees migrants arrive in Greece from Turkey, then pass through Macedonia and Serbia, and finally enter the EU via Hungary. In war-torn countries such as Syria, the number of people leaving their homes marks the largest migration since World War II.
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Leaders of the parties say the EU is failing to adequately respond to what they call the migration “crisis” and say their rise in popularity shows voters want politicians to curb immigration and prioritize national security, health care, education, jobs and housing.
However, critics of these parties say they are divisive and seek to undermine European integration and unity. They also point out that birth rates are falling in many European countries and that the region needs migrant workers. At the same time, the EU must walk a fine line between accepting the results of democratic processes and the rise of Eurosceptic sentiment.
EU complete Its immigration and asylum policies were reformed earlier this year to ensure a system of “enforced solidarity” This means that asylum seekers will be treated fairly by all member states. Previously, some countries, particularly in the southern Mediterranean region, argued that they had to single-handedly bear the burden of large numbers of migrants arriving in the region by boat.
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