Party for Freedom Partij voor de Vrijheid | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | PVV |
| Leader | Geert Wilders |
| Leader in theHouse of Representatives | Geert Wilders |
| Leader in theSenate | Alexander van Hattem |
| Leader in theEuropean Parliament | Sebastiaan Stöteler |
| Founded | 22 February 2006; 19 years ago (2006-02-22)[1] |
| Split from | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy |
| Membership(2025) |  1 (Geert Wilders)[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing tofar-right |
| European affiliation | Patriots.eu |
| European Parliament group |
|
| Colours | Navy blue Silver |
| House of Representatives | 37 / 150 |
| Senate | 4 / 75 |
| Provincial councils | 34 / 570 |
| European Parliament | 6 / 31 |
| Benelux Parliament | 4 / 21 |
| Website | |
| www | |
TheParty for Freedom (Dutch:Partij voor de Vrijheid[pɑrˈtɛivoːrdəˈvrɛiɦɛit], PVV) is anationalist andright-wing populist[2][3]political party in theNetherlands.Geert Wilders is the founder,party leader, and sole registered member of the party.[4]
Founded in 2006 as the successor to Wilders' one-man group in theHouse of Representatives, it won nine seats in the2006 general election. In the2010 general election, it won 24 seats, making it the third-largest party. At that time the PVV agreed to provideconfidence and supply to theminorityfirst Rutte cabinet. PVV withdrew its support in April 2012 due to differences over budget cuts.[5] In the following2012 general election, it lost 9 seats. Following the elections, the party returned to the opposition. Furthermore, in the2017 general election, the Party for Freedom won 20 seats. In the2023 general election, it became the largest party in theHouse of Representatives. After the election, it entered government for the first time as part of theSchoof cabinet.
PVV's main issues aremigration and critique ofIslam. The PVV has proposed banning theQuran and shutting down allmosques in the Netherlands.[6] The party isEurosceptic[7][8] and favouredwithdrawal from the EU until 2024.[9]
The party's origins trace back to Geert Wilders' departure from thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in September 2004. The immediate cause was Wilders' opposition to thepotential accession of Turkey to the European Union, though more broadly, he had become increasingly radicalized. Following his departure, he continued in parliament as a one-man faction,Groep Wilders (Group Wilders).[10]
Wilders was joined byBart Jan Spruyt of theEdmund Burke Foundation, with both aiming to establish aconservative party.[11] Wilders published a manifesto titledIndependence Declaration (Dutch:Onafhankelijkheidsverklaring), primarily authored by Spruyt. Initially, they had planned to release it jointly withPim Fortuyn List politiciansJoost Eerdmans andMarco Pastors, but Wilders ultimately withdrew from the collaboration.[12] Spruyt left the party in August 2006, after determining that Wilders was less focused on forming a conservative party and more concentrated on issues related to Islam and immigration.[13]
_2006.jpg)
Wilders' party had for a long time polled low in polls, despite some media attention. Wilders' leading role in the campaign against theEuropean Constitution, which was rejected by Dutch voters by 62%, led to a rise.[14] In the run-up to the2006 general election, Wilders founded the Party for Freedom. The campaign focused on the Islam, with Wilders warning for a "tsunami of Islamization".[15] Despite low polling,[16] the party won 9 seats. The seats were taken by the "old nine": Wilders,Fleur Agema,Raymond de Roon,Hero Brinkman,Martin Bosma,Dion Graus,Barry Madlener,Teun van Dijck andSietse Fritsma.
On 28 November 2007, Wilders announced his film,Fitna, suggesting it would include scenes ofburning the Quran.[17] The Dutch government, the European Union, and other international organizations feared a repeat of the2005 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, which led to amedia hype.[18] Government officials and politicians attempted to dissuade Wilders from releasing the film. Following multiple delays,Fitna was released in March 2008. Although the Dutch government distanced itself from the film and it receivedinternational reactions, it offered little new, and the anticipated escalation did not materialize.[19]Fitna later became part of ahate speech trial against Geert Wilders, in which he was ultimately acquitted.
The PVV participated in theMarch 2010 municipal elections only inThe Hague andAlmere due to a shortage of suitable candidates. MPsSietse Fritsma andRaymond de Roon headed the candidate lists. The PVV emerged as the largest party in Almere, winning 22% of the votes, and the second largest in The Hague with 17%. Wilders waslijstduwer in The Hague and was elected throughpreference votes, subsequently joining the council. However, negotiations to join themunicipal executive failed in both cities, partly due to the PVV's demand to banheadscarves for civil servants.[15]
In the9 June 2010 general election, the PVV went from nine to 24 seats. During thesubsequent cabinet formation, the PVV agreed to provideconfidence and supply to a right-wing minority coalition ofPeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) andChristian Democratic Appeal, despite opposition in the latter party. Providing only confidence and supply, it had no representation within the cabinet. The PVV did not have to support everything in the coalition agreement of CDA and VVD, but only which was agreed upon in a separategedoogakkoord, which included immigration policy, security, healthcare and financial policy.[15]
In 2012, the PVV party launched a website namedReporting Centre on Central and East Europeans to receive complaints about Central and East European immigrants in the Netherlands. 'Do you have problems with people from Central and Eastern Europe? Have you lost your job to a Pole, a Bulgarian, a Romanian or another East European? We want to know,' the website states. It displays newspaper headlines such as 'Wouldn't it be better if you went back home?' and 'East Europeans, increasingly criminal'. The European Commission has condemned the website, and EU Justice CommissionerViviane Reding declared, "We call on all citizens of the Netherlands not to join in this intolerance. Citizens should instead clearly state on the PVV's website that Europe is a place of freedom."[20][21] The website caused a lot of controversy within theEuropean Union.[22]
On 20 March 2012,Hero Brinkman quit the party, citing a lack of democratic structure within the PVV among other things; qualifying this with a statement of continued support for the minorityRutte cabinet.[23] Two days later, three members of theStates of North Holland representing the PVV followed him.[24] In July 2012,Marcial Hernandez andWim Kortenoeven quit the PVV, both citing what they considered to be Wilders' autocratic leadership of the party.[25]
In theparliamentary elections of 12 September 2012, the PVV went from 24 to 15 seats (of 150), winning 10% of the vote.[26] In October 2013, the party expelledLouis Bontes, but he kept his seat in parliament.[27]
During election night of the2014 municipal elections, Wilders asked a crowd of his followers whether they wanted more or less Morrocans, to which the crowd replied with "Less, less, less". This led to commotion, including within the party. Some municipal and provincial councilors left the party, as well as MPsRoland van Vliet andJoram van Klaveren.[15] Wilders was later found guilty ofgroup insult [nl] ina second trial against him [nl], but received no sentence.
In theEuropean Parliament election on 22 May 2014, the party kept its four seats in theEuropean Parliament.[28] MEPHans Jansen died on 5 May 2015 and was replaced byAuke Zijlstra on 1 September 2015.[29] On 16 June 2015, the Party for Freedom and other right-wing nationalist parties in the European Parliament formed thepolitical groupEurope of Nations and Freedom.[30]Marcel de Graaff of the PVV andMarine Le Pen of theNational Front became the first co-presidents of this group.[31]
The Party for Freedom rose in polls during the 2015European migrant crisis, with the party toppingpolls from September 2015 through to late February 2017. However, in the relative absence of Geert Wilders during the campaign – notably refusing to participate in both RTL debates – support for the PVV collapsed, and the VVD secured a narrow lead in the final weeks before the election. The2017 Dutch–Turkish diplomatic incident happened less than a week before the election; it was speculated that this benefited the Prime Minister's party (VVD), as Rutte's response to the incident was well received.[32]
For the2017 general election, the PVV had anelection platform of a single page.[33] The party won 20 seats, which was five seats more than the previous election.[34] Despite ending second, the PVV played no role in the2017 cabinet formation because all major parties said they would not form a government coalition with the PVV.[35]
The party performed poorly in the2019 provincial elections and reported issues attracting suitable candidates. The party lost 26 seats, with theForum for Democracy (FvD) taking many of its voters.[36] The party also saw a setback during the2019 European Parliament election, winning zero seats, but being allocated one in post-Brexit appointments. This was taken byMarcel de Graaff until 2022, when he defected to FvD.[37]
The party finished in third place during the2021 general election, but played no role inthe subsequent formation.
Thefourth Rutte cabinet fell in July 2023, after the parties failed to agree on measures to restrict migration. The party saw a massive resurgence in support and its best result to date during theNovember 2023 general election in which it finished in first place.[38] It was also noted Wilders had softened some of his statements and moderated some of the PVV's positions, and that immigration was one of the most important issues of the election which helped to boost his appeal.[39] After the election, PVV parliamentarianMartin Bosma was electedSpeaker of the House of Representatives making it the first time a member of the PVV has held the position.[40]
In May 2024, after six months of negotiations, a coalition deal was struck between the PVV, NSC, BBB, and VVD. During the talks, all parties agreed that none of their leaders would serve as Prime Minister, opting instead for anindependent politician. The PVV initially nominatedRonald Plasterk for the role, but his candidacy was withdrawn following accusations of fraud. The PVV then proposedDick Schoof, a civil servant, as Prime Minister. TheSchoof cabinet was sworn in on 2 July 2024, with PVV politicianFleur Agema appointed as Deputy Prime Minister.
The PVV is generally consideredright-wing[41][42] tofar-right,[43][44] More specifically, the party is consideredradical right andright-wing populist.[44] Dutch media and academics generally avoid the term "extreme right" (Dutch:extreemrechts), in particular because the party does not want to abolish democracy and does not advocate violence.[44][45]
The PVV combines its right-wing politics with some leftist social positions,[1] which makes it harder to position the party on the left-right scale.[46] On certain themes such as healthcare, social services, LGBT rights and elderly care the PVV can be seen as left-leaning and social democratic, albeit selectively.[47]
Observers have also noted that Wilders avoids positioning the party within the traditional political spectrum, but have variously described the PVV's ideology as encompassing elements ofliberalism,national liberalism,conservative liberalism,Dutch nationalism andnational populism.[48][49][50] Wilders has identified himself as a right-wing liberal and was initially reluctant to collaborate with far-right parties in Europe. Others have claimed that the PVV overlaps in some areas with the formerPim Fortuyn List party which combined nationalism and liberal principles.[51][52][53]
Political historian Koen Vossen identified four pillars of the PVV's ideology:anti-Islam,[54]populism,nationalism andlaw and order.[55]
The party campaigns on a strongcounter-jihad agenda.[56] The PVV's view of Islam is amongst others inspired byOriana Fallaci'sThe Force of Reason,Bat Ye'or'sEurabia and the works ofHans Jansen.[57] Specific proposals the PVV have made regarding Islam include banning theQuran, closing Islamic schools, shutting down all mosques in the Netherlands, banning migration from Islamic countries, stopping subsidies for Islamic media and organisations, banningheadscarves in public buildings, banning Quran lessons in school and introducing ahead rag tax.[6]
The PVV seeks to exclude Dutch citizens withdual citizenship from voting, serving in the military,[58] and holding political office.[59] The PVV argues that dual citizens may have conflicting loyalties. While in opposition, the party filedmotions of no confidence against cabinet members with dual citizenship, such asAhmed Aboutaleb andNebahat Albayrak (both in 2007). However, while in coalition, the party refrained from filing such motions, as seen withMarlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten in 2010.[60]
The party utilizes itsliberal stances on issues such as abortion andgay rights to present itself as a "a defender of women and gay people in the face of the advance of an ‘intolerant and backward Islam".[61] The PVV has generally taken a more moderate and socially liberal attitude on LGBT rights and same-sex marriage in contrast to other European populist parties.[62]
The party is critical of LGBT education in schools.[63] In 2023, the PVV refused to sign the Rainbow accord (Regenboogakkoord in Dutch) which made parties pledge and agree to take action against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender and skin colour by handing out harsher sentences for violent crimes, more detectives to research discrimination and providing safer refuge for LGBT refugees. The accord also called for schools to pay more attention to LGBT education in school and an end to identity declarations where parents or students would show to which world view they subscribe and take distance from homosexuality.[64]
The PVV's foreign policy is based on its dislike of Islam and opposition toEuropean integration.[65] The party was supportive of theWar on terror in the beginning, but changed its position around 2016 tonon-interventionism, arguing the Netherlands is not responsible for the "rubble of the Islamic world".[66] According to the PVV, theNetherlands Armed Forces should be focused on safety within the border.[67] The PVV opposesdevelopment aid, arguing that is not effective.[68]
It has generally taken a position ofhard Euroscepticism and argues forDutch withdrawal from the European Union (Nexit). The party states that the EU does not financially benefit the Dutch tax payer, has eroded too much domestic decision making and democracy of its member states and leaves the Netherlands unable to control its borders.[69] The party has also advocated for withdrawal from theeurozone and the reintroduction of theDutch guilder and has also proposed an alternative currency it calls theneuro which would be created as a parallel trading currency with Northern European states.[70] The PVV also wants a similar opt-out agreement from the EU common asylum policy asDenmark.[71]
Following the2024 European Parliament election, the PVV said it would pause its support for Nexit and made this decision to accommodate its negotiation partners during the ongoing2023-2024 cabinet formation. Wilders instead stated he would use his position in government to focus on eroding the EU's power from within.[72]
A research paper by theEuropean Center for Populism Studies described the PVV's prior attitude towards Putin and Russia as mixed and more complex compared to other national-populist movements, with Wilders making somewhat supportive statements of Putin in the context of portraying him as an ally against Islamic terrorism and immigration, the PVV advocating a neutral policy on the ongoingRusso-Ukrainian War in 2014 and opposing Ukrainian membership of the EU.
However, the paper notes Wilders and the PVV hardened their attitude towards Russia after the shooting down ofMalaysia Airlines flight MH17 with the PVV manifesto calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.[73] Following theRussian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the PVV voted in parliament to condemn the invasion and called for an end to Russian aggression. Despite its otherwise strict stance on immigration, the PVV said the Netherlands should temporarily accommodate Ukrainian refugees whom the party regards as legitimate refugees fleeing war.[73] The party has since expressed some criticism of the extent of Dutch military support for Ukraine[74][75] and has advocated for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.[76]
The PVV supports theone-state solution and considersJordan to be 'the onlyPalestinian state that will ever exist'.[77] In 2010, Wilders voiced his support forYisrael Beiteinu and held talks with its leaderAvigdor Lieberman.[78] Wilders is a frequent visitor to Israel and spent six months on amoshav in theWest Bank at the age of 17.[79] The party supports recognisingJerusalem as the capital of Israel and proposed moving the Dutch embassy there.[80] Following theIsrael–Hamas war, Wilders drew condemnation from Arab states for advocating for the relocation of Palestinians to Jordan.[81]
The PVV advocateslaw and order. Amongst others, the PVV calls for more police and azero tolerance policy. The PVV calls for higher sentences, including athree-strikes law, and more soberdetention. Despite drawing inspiration from American law and order politicians such asRudy Giuliani andJoe Arpaio, the PVV opposescapital punishment and theright to keep and bear arms.[82]
Like many other populist parties, the PVV is critical of thejudiciary, which they see as limiting thepopular sovereignty. To limit their power, the PVV advocates formandatory sentencing and election ofjudges. The party opposes what it sees as juridification of politics, and has instead opted for a strategy of politisation of the judiciary. The party calls into question the neutrality and political impartiality of the judiciary, often calling judges elitist and left-wing. To reclaimnational sovereignty, the PVV also opposestreaties, in particular if they introduceinternational courts. This includes theEuropean Court of Human Rights,Court of Justice of the European Union and arbitration introduced in theComprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.[83]
The name 'Party for Freedom' (Dutch:Partij voor de Vrijheid) is a reference to theFreedom Party (Dutch:Partij van de Vrijheid), a Dutch political party founded in 1946, shortly afterWorld War II. In 1948, the Freedom Party went on as thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Dutch:Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie), which is the party Wilders split from.[84]
The party logo consists of the party name and agull in red, white, and blue, which are the colors of theDutch flag.[1][85] The gull symbolises freedom or liberty.[85][86] The gull had also been used as a symbol by theNational Socialist Movement in the Netherlands on propaganda posters and for their youth wing,[86] but Wilders claimed it was not inspired by Nazi usage.[87]
In order to register for elections in the Netherlands, a political party needs to be anassociation, which can be founded by two or more members.[88] The Association Group Wilders (Dutch:The Vereniging Groep Wilders) was founded in 2005 by Geert Wilders and the Foundation Group Wilders (Dutch:Stichting Groep Wilders), later renamed Foundation Friends of the PVV, of which Wilders is the only board member.[89][15][90] The association was later renamed to Partij voor de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom).[1] After the creation of the association, Wilders disabled new member registration, resulting in him remaining the sole member of the party.[1][89] The party is considered unique in Dutch politics in that it does not organise publicparty conferences and does not have local departments, ayouth wing, or aresearch institute.[1][89]
The most important reason for refusing members was to prevent a repeat of the right-wing populistPim Fortuyn List (LPF), which succumbed to factional infighting after the murder of its founder. The LPF also attracted troublemakers as well as people from the extreme right.[91] Another reason was that Wilders' strict protection made it hard to organise membership meetings.[91] Later, Wilders and Bosma would introduced more principled reasons, arguing that membership parties were old-fashioned and had lost their contact with society.[91] Politicians within the party have advocated for democratisation of the party, most notablyHero Brinkman, but they received little support and their efforts failed.[92]
Commentators have also cited Wilders as one of the first party leaders to use web and social media messages to reach voters instead of traditional public campaigning such as public rallies or meet and greets.[93]
Due to the PVV's structure, foreign political journalists have noted that members of the public do not often out themselves as PVV supporters and that it is sometimes difficult to determine who votes for the party despite its generally substantial results in elections. Some media outlets have noted that in line with other European populist parties, its voters tend to either be on the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum or those concerned about immigration and crime.[94] A 2017 study by Dutch polling companyEtnobarometer found that the PVV also receives support from some ethnic minority communities and that it was the second most voted for party among Surinamese-Dutch voters after the Labour Party, with the PVV doing particularly well among voters ofIndo-Surinamese andIndian heritage.[95]
In the Netherlands, a political party needs to have at least 1,000 members to be eligible for government funding, a requirement which the PVV does not meet with Wilders being the only member.[1] The party thus relies on donations, which are received by theStichting Vrienden van de PVV.[96]
The party has not disclosed any of its finances until 2013, so little is known for certain. There are rumours that money was donated from the United States and Israel. For example,Hero Brinkman claimed in 2012 after he had left the party that the PVV received most of its finances from foreign (American) lobby groups.[97] According toReuters,Daniel Pipes'Middle East Forum paid for the trials and security of Geert Wilders andDavid Horowitz paid Wilders "a good fee" for two speeches given in the US.[98][99]
Since 2013, Dutch political parties are required by law to disclose all donations of 4,500 euro or more.[96] The PVV reported no donations for 2013.[100] Between 2014 and 2017, the party disclosed more than 130,000 euro in donations from the California-basedDavid Horowitz Freedom Center, more than 18,000 euro from a private donor in the Netherlands who according to theAnti-fascist research group Kafka donated to theCentre Democrats in the past, and a donation of 6,853 euro from the New York-based company FOL Inc.[96]
| Election | Lead candidate | List | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Geert Wilders | List | 579,490 | 5.89 | 9 / 150 | New | Opposition |
| 2010 | List | 1,454,493 | 15.45 | 24 / 150 |  15 | Confidence and supply First Rutte cabinet | |
| 2012 | List | 950,263 | 10.08 | 15 / 150 |  9 | Opposition | |
| 2017 | List | 1,372,941 | 13.06 | 20 / 150 | 5 | Opposition | |
| 2021 | List | 1,125,022 | 10.81 | 17 / 150 | 3 | Opposition | |
| 2023 | List | 2,450,878 | 23.49 | 37 / 150 | 20 | Coalition Schoof cabinet |
| Election | Lead candidate | List | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Machiel de Graaf | List | 72 | 12.74 | 10 / 75 | New |
| 2015 | Marjolein Faber | List | 66 | 11.58 | 9 / 75 | 1 |
| 2019 | List | 38 | 6.46 | 5 / 75 | 4 | |
| 2023 | List | 34 | 5.52 | 4 / 75 | 1 |
| Election | List | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Pre-Lisbon Treaty | List | 772,746 | 16.97 | 4 / 25 | New | NI |
| Post-Lisbon Treaty | 5 / 26 | 1 | |||||
| 2014 | List | 633,114 | 13.32 | 4 / 26 | 1 | ENF | |
| 2019 | Pre-Brexit | List | 194,178 | 3.53 | 0 / 26 | 4 | ID |
| Post-Brexit | 1 / 29 | 1 | |||||
| 2024 | List | 1,057,662 | 16.97 | 6 / 31 | 5 | PfE | |
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