The Freedom Party (PVV) leader is demanding that the Dutch government revoke citizenship from criminal immigrants and begin mass deportations, starting with the 60,000 Syrians who arrived during the migrant crisis. And he’s warning that if his demands are ignored, he’s ready to bring down the government.
Wilders is holding a high-stakes press conference in The Hague on Monday to express growing frustration with what he calls the government’s betrayal of voters and failure to deliver on core immigration promises.
Despite the PVV’s landslide victory in the 2023 election, becoming the largest party in the Netherlands with nearly 25% of the vote, Wilders was blocked from becoming Prime Minister. Coalition partners forced him to hand over key cabinet positions to establishment parties, even as they agreed to implement the so-called “toughest asylum policy ever.”
But those promises are unraveling fast.
The government has watered down key PVV demands, such as the forced return of Syrian migrants, now only “required” to return if deemed capable of rebuilding their lives back home. A proposed national emergency law to halt the migrant influx? Dead on arrival.
Wilders has had enough. “Our patience is running out. The voters who made the PVV the largest party have the right to a government that delivers,” Wilders declared.
In a defiant, hour-long press conference, he laid out ten demands, including:
- Shutting the border to asylum seekers and their families
- Closing asylum centers across the country
- Revoking citizenship from criminal migrants
- Deporting 60,000 Syrians who arrived during the crisis
“It’s time to go home!” he said.
Wilders also slammed the Dutch government for refusing to back a joint initiative by Denmark and Italy that would block the European Court of Justice from interfering in the deportations of criminal immigrants.
If the government doesn’t change course, and fast, Wilders says he’ll walk.
“If this government behaves like a fifth Rutte government, and does not change or does not change enough, then we will leave it.”
The message is clear: deliver or collapse.
