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Former EU climate chief Frans Timmermans is ready to play his role in the Dutch opposition after the shock win of far-right politician Geert Wilders in the Dutch election on Wednesday.
“I suspect that we will end up in the opposition,” Timmermans reportedly said on Thursday at a gathering of members of the joint Labor-Green alliance which he led into Wednesday’s election.
The two parties performed well in the vote, raising their joint seat count from 17 to 25, according to projections by Dutch broadcaster NOS based on more than 99 percent of the votes counted. But the big leap forward was eclipsed by the win of the far-right Freedom Party (PVV), led by Geert Wilders, which came in first place with 37 seats.
It’s now Wilders’ turn to try to form a coalition, Timmermans hinted.
Wilders said on election night that he might try to build a coalition with center-right parties, such as the liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the centrist New Social Contract (NSC), and the right-wing populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB).
“It is clear that a lot of people expect solutions from the right. Then it’s up to the right to show that they can offer these,” Timmermans said.
Timmermans congratulated Wilders on his win Wednesday night but took aim at his party, vowing to “never enter into a coalition with a party that excludes Dutchmen.” He added: “Let’s make a fist against exclusion.”
Timmermans served as an executive vice president under European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in charge of the EU’s Green Deal. He resigned in August to lead the joint list of the Dutch Social Democratic Party (PVDA) and the Dutch Green Left.
