[Marxism] Netherlands embraces far right in EU elections

[Joonas Laine <jjonas@xxxxxx>]

Netherlands embraces far right in EU elections
ANDREW WILLIS
05.06.2009 @ 09:29 CET
http://euobserver.com/9/28248

The Dutch far-right Freedom Party (PVV) of Geert Wilders made the 
greatest leap forward in the country's EU elections on Thursday (4 
June), with 16.9 percent in exit polls. But the ruling conservatives 
came top overall.

The result is a major victory for the openly anti-Islamic party, giving 
it four seats in the European legislature and a possibility that this 
could rise to five once the final count is completed.

The Freedom Party came second only to the ruling Christian Democrats 
(CDA) of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, which exit polls suggest 
will win 20 percent of the vote or five of the 25 seats up for grabs.

This is a fall of four percent from the last European elections in 2004, 
resulting in the loss of two MEPs for the party.

As the xenophobic party's celebrations got under way, Mr Wilders said 
his success was a vote against the current administration and an overly 
costly EU.

"People have had enough of Europe as it is now - a big Europe with 
Turkey possibly joining - that we spend billions on each year," he said 
according to newswires.

"I think some people have also had enough of the Balkenende and Bos 
Cabinet," he added, referring to the prime minister and his Labour Party 
finance minister.

The results tally with pre-election predictions of greater support for 
far right and fringe parties as a result of the economic crisis and 
fears over immigration in the country.

The Labour Party - the junior coalition partner in the government - 
appeared the main loser in Thursday's vote, taking only 12.2 percent of 
the vote resulting in a drop from seven to three seats in the European 
parliament.

The third party in the government coalition, the small Christen Unie, a 
religious party that on some economic issues hews somewhat to the left, 
was at 6.9 percent of the vote, up from 5.9 percent in 2004, and 
projected to take two seats.

The other big winner is the left-liberal D66, which looks poised to take 
three seats with 11.3 percent of the vote, up from just one at the last 
European election. It is a major turn-around for the party, which in 
recent years was feared to be in danger of disappearing.

"There has been a clear No vote and a clear Yes vote," party leader 
Alexander Pechtold said, pointing out that the anti-Europe parties had 
won just eight of the 25 Dutch seats.

"Europe is the big winner tonight," he said.

The country's green party, Groenlinks, or 'Green Left' looks set to take 
8.9 percent of the vote or three seats, an increase of one on 2004.

The far-left SP remained largely steady with 7.1 percent of the vote.

Exit polls showed voter turnout of 36.5 percent, down from 39.1 percent 
in the last European elections in 2004.

Muslim concerns

The rise of Mr Wilders - who has described the Koran as fascist and who 
currently receives 24-hour protection following death threats â clearly 
came at the expense of governing coalition partners.

Fears amongst Protestant and Catholic voters over the country's roughly 
800,000 Muslim inhabitants helped drive the strong support for the 
Freedom Party, which was contesting its first European elections.

Mr Wilders, who directed a short film that criticizes the Koran as a 
"fascist book", urged voters to reject EU involvement in immigration 
policy and said Turkey should not join the 27-nation union.

"Turkey as [an] Islamic country should never be in the EU, not in 10 
years, not in a million years," Wilders said after voting.

[..]

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: 
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40archives.econ.utah.edu