Morning Wire - Who is Geert Wilders? And Why Does His Election Matter? | Saturday Extra

Episode Date: December 2, 2023

The election of Geert Wilders in The Netherlands is being called a political earthquake. How are his anti-immigration views being received? Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A series of recent elections in Europe, including the Netherlands and Italy, have signaled a shift in voters' views on some key issues, particularly immigration and cultural identity. In this episode, we talk with an expert about the growing movement against liberal immigration policies in Europe. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Saturday, December 2nd, and this is an extra edition of Morning Wire. Joining us to discuss the political upheaval in the Netherlands and rising anti-immigration sentiment in Europe is Niall Gardner, the director of the Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom. Thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure. So let's start with the Netherlands first. Who is Gert Wilders and what is his political platform? So Gert Wilders is a leading conservative politician in the Netherlands who has really challenged the political ruling establishment and, His recent election gains where his party, the Freedom Party, won the most seats, actually,

in the lower house of parliament, about 37 seats out of 150. This was really a political earthquake. And Wilders is a pro-free market politician. He is most well known, I think, for his strong views on combating Islam. and he is a very sharp critic of Islamist extremism. He has vowed to stand up to the Islamist extremists within the Netherlands. He has vowed to cut levels of immigration into the country. He is somebody who I think represents what is a growing trend within much of Europe

against large-scale mass immigration, but also rejection of Islamist ideology and fundamentalism, in his view, the Netherlands has surrendered to extremist Islamist ideology. And so he has led really a crusade against what he sees as an Islamist de facto takeover in the Netherlands. So he is pushing back against the ruling liberal elites within the Netherlands who for decades have promoted policies of mass migration. And I think, for a majority of Dutch citizens, they're very concerned about the fundamental changes they are seeing in Dutch society. And I was actually recently in Amsterdam and saw for myself firsthand the tremendous changes that are taking place within the Netherlands, which, of course,

have made a lot of the Dutch population very uneasy. But what we are seeing, I think, in the Netherlands is symbolic of broader changes that we're seeing across Europe and a broader rejection of ruling political elites. And some of those elites have included parties that would not describe themselves as liberal, but they have indeed overseen very liberal immigration policies over the course of the last few decades. So was immigration the main thrust of his platform or were there other elements? For instance, we've seen the climate change policies that have become very controversial in the Netherlands. Did that have any role in the election?

Those are great questions. I think without a doubt the issue of mass migration and the issue of Islamist ideology in the Netherlands, I think this was the dominant factor in terms of the huge rise and support for Wilder's Freedom Party. But I think secondary to that was the issue of the very extreme environmental policies that have been advanced by the Dutch government and by previous Dutch governments. and you've seen a large rebellion by Dutch farmers against these very extreme climate policies which are seen as really being huge interventions actually within Dutch society and also within the Dutch market. Dutch farmers are very, very upset by the policies that have been put in place, supposedly to combat climate change. What they are really are big government interventions

in Dutch society, which make it far harder for a Dutch government. Dutch farmers, frankly, to make a living. And so they have rebelled significantly against these measures. Some of them have voted for other parties on the right. Many have voted for builders and the Freedom Party. So I think certainly these two issues were very big on the agenda, but also you throw into the mix, I think, unhappiness over economic policies of the existing government, cost of living crisis, which has hit the vast majority of Europe, a lot of disillusionment, I think, with regard to some of the economic agenda that is in place. So there are many factors feeding into the significant electoral gains by Wilders and his party.

But immigration certainly was the number one issue. I think secondly, a rejection of the very extremist far-left environmental agenda that was being implemented. Now, you mentioned that Wilder's Freedom Party won the most seats, but it does not have a straight majority. Does he have enough of a coalition to effectively push through the policies he's campaigned on? Well, that's the thing. He's really trying to build a coalition right now, but it is very difficult to do so because nearly all the other major parties are rejecting a coalition with the Freedom Party. And so this makes it very difficult for builders to form a government. He wants, of course, to become the prime minister. But as is often the case within Western European countries, you find that most of the other political parties reject the idea. of a coalition with a party like the Freedom Party, even though this is the most popular party in the Netherlands. So in a way, it's a rejection of democracy, the refusal of the establishing parties to do a deal. And that includes, for example, the People's Party for Freedom

and Democracy, the VVD, which is headed by the outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutter. And that party actually finished third in the elections. And basically, Rutter has ruled out actually being any part of a new government that includes Wilders and the Freedom Party. So I do think you do have a political establishment joining ranks against builders. So it remains to be seen what actually happens with regard to the outcome.

But the Dutch people have voted for change. This is a political earthquake. Their votes should be respected. But we'll have to see what happens. It often takes weeks, months for Dutch governments to be formed in terms of coalition building. So let's see what actually unfolds

here. But I think it's can be very difficult, actually, for the establishment to keep the Freedom Party out after winning such a large number of seats. You mentioned the larger trends in Europe that are similar to what we're seeing in the Netherlands in terms of anti-immigration sentiment. What are some of the other countries where we're really seeing this as a dominant issue? Yeah, we're seeing this being a big issue in multiple Western European countries. So Germany, for example, where you are seeing a growing rejection, actually, of the ruling. socialist political establishment there. Italy, with the rise of Georges Maloney, who actually

has been a very successful leader in Italy. Just a few years ago, she was regarded as being on the complete fringes of the political world in Italy, but she is now leading the country. And I think that Italy is an example of where you have political parties that have been on the fringes, now at the heart of government. In the case of Maloney, the brothers of Italy party, now in power. And so Italy, I think, is a prime example of where you are seeing huge political change as a result of a rejection of mass migration. Sweden has seen the emergence of a right-leaning government there, a direct response as well to mass migration into the country. Sweden has had huge issues with rising, soaring crime as a direct result of large numbers of refugees and

and other migrants who have settled in Sweden. This has caused a huge upheaval in Swedish society. And so what you're seeing in the Netherlands is not unusual. In fact, I think it's an example of the winds of change sweeping through European societies and a growing rejection of ruling political elites who have basically overseen massive levels of migration into European countries. And I think that voters are saying,

enough is enough. They don't want to see that anymore. And they also want to see a rejection of Islamist ideology, which is increasingly playing a very big part in European countries. You see it in Britain, for example, with a huge protests by supporters of Hamas, pro-Palestinian protests on the streets of London, in some cases involving over 100,000 people every single weekend. And these protests actually are, in many cases, being driven by hardline Islamist organizations who openly support terrorist movements like Hamas. And so European publics are saying they don't want to see this. They want to have action taken against this.

As it happens, Britain does have a conservative government, but it hasn't necessarily been very tough, I think, in terms of dealing with the issue of mass migration. It will be forced, I think, to do so as the British general election looms in the course of the next year or so. Yeah, another key election to watch. Now, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, my pleasure. Many, many thanks.

That was Nile Gardner of the Heritage Foundation, and this was an extra edition of Morning Wire.