Far-right populist Geert Wilders wants to be the Netherlands' next prime minister and would focus his efforts on curbing immigration, he said following a landmark election win that will have repercussions in the Netherlands and Europe.
A fan of former U.S. President Donald Trump and Hungary's eurosceptic Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the vocally anti-Islam, anti-EU Wilders has also vowed to slash Dutch payments to the European Union and block the entrance of any new members, including Ukraine.
Though Wilders' most radical ideas will be rejected by other parties he must work with in order to form a coalition government, fellow populists including Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the hard-right League Matteo Salvini welcomed his win as showing that "a new Europe is possible."
Beating all predictions, Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) won 37 seats out of 150 on Wednesday, well ahead of 25 for a joint Labour/Green ticket and 24 for the conservative People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Wilders told Dutch media on Thursday he wanted to be prime minister and that he was in favour of a referendum on whether the Netherlands should leave the EU.
"But the first thing is a significant restriction on asylum and immigration," Wilders said. "We don't do that for ourselves, we do that for all Dutch people who voted for us".
While his party will claim almost a quarter of seats in parliament, Wilders needs mainstream parties to join him in a coalition to govern and will have to water down some of his views.
@ISIDEWITH10міс10MO
Чи вас хвилює чи турбує концепція «нової Європи», запропонована деякими популістськими лідерами, і чому?
@ISIDEWITH10міс10MO
Уявіть, що ваша країна хоче обмежити імміграцію; Як ви думаєте, це захистить чи зашкодить цінностям вашої нації?
