• Source: Party for Freedom

The Party for Freedom (Dutch: Partij voor de Vrijheid [pɑrˈtɛi voːr də ˈvrɛiɦɛit], PVV) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders is the founder, party leader, and sole member of the party.
Founded in 2006 as the successor to Wilders' one-man group in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election. In the 2010 general election, it won 24 seats, making it the third-largest party. At that time the PVV agreed to provide confidence and supply to the minority first Rutte cabinet. PVV withdrew its support in April 2012 due to differences over budget cuts. In the following 2012 general election, it lost 9 seats. Following the elections, the party returned to the opposition. Furthermore, in the 2017 general election, the Party for Freedom won 20 seats. In the 2023 general election, it became the largest party in the House of Representatives. After the election, it entered government for the first time as part of the Schoof cabinet.
PVV's main issues are migration and critique of Islam. The PVV has proposed banning the Quran and shutting down all mosques in the Netherlands. The party is Eurosceptic and favoured a Nexit until 2024.




History






= Group Wilders (2004–2005)

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The party's history began with Geert Wilders' departure from the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in September 2004. The direct cause was Wilders' rejection of a possible accession of Turkey to the European Union, but more generally had become too radicalised. He continued in parliament as the one-man group Groep Wilders (Group Wilders).
Wilders was joined by Bart Jan Spruyt of the Edmund Burke Foundation. Both wanted to form a conservative party. Wilders published a manifest titled Independence declaration (Dutch: Onafhankelijkheidsverklaring), mostly written by Spruyt. They had originally intended to publish it together with Pim Fortuyn List politicians Joost Eerdmans and Marco Pastors, but Wilders had backed out. Spruyt would leave the party in August 2006, after concluding that Wilders was not interested in a conservative party, but mostly focused on Islam and immigration.




= Growth (2006–2010)

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Wilders' party had for a long time polled low in polls, despite some media attention. Wilders' leading role in the campaign against the European Constitution, which was rejected by Dutch voters by 62%, led to a rise. In the run-up to the 2006 general election, Wilders founded the Party for Freedom. The campaign focused on the Islam, with Wilders warning for a "tsunami of Islamization". Despite low polling, 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 and Sietse Fritsma.

On 28 November 2007, Wilders announced his film, Fitna, suggesting it would include scenes of burning the Quran. The Dutch government, the European Union, and other international organizations feared a repeat of the 2005 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, which led to a media hype. 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 received international reactions, it offered little new, and the anticipated escalation did not materialize. Fitna later became part of a hate speech trial against Geert Wilders, in which he was ultimately acquitted.



2010 Municipal elections

The PVV participated in the March 2010 municipal elections only in The Hague and Almere due to a shortage of suitable candidates. MPs Sietse Fritsma and Raymond 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 was lijstduwer in The Hague and was elected through preference votes, subsequently joining the council. However, negotiations to join the municipal executive failed in both cities, partly due to the PVV's demand to ban headscarves for civil servants.




= Coalition government (2010–2012)

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In the 9 June 2010 general election, the PVV went from nine to 24 seats. During the subsequent cabinet formation, the PVV agreed to provide confidence and supply to a right-wing minority coalition of People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and Christian 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 separate gedoogakkoord, which included immigration policy, security, healthcare and financial policy.
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 minority Rutte cabinet. Two days later, three members of the States of North Holland representing the PVV followed him. In July 2012, Marcial Hernandez and Wim Kortenoeven quit the PVV, both citing what they considered to be Wilders' autocratic leadership of the party.




= Opposition (2012–2023)

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In the parliamentary elections of 12 September 2012, the PVV went from 24 to 15 seats (of 150), winning 10% of the vote. In October 2013, the party expelled Louis Bontes, but he kept his seat in parliament.
During election night of the 2014 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 MPs Roland van Vliet and Joram van Klaveren. Wilders was later found guilty of group insult in a second trial against him, but received no sentence.
In the European Parliament election on 22 May 2014, the party kept its four seats in the European Parliament. MEP Hans Jansen died on 5 May 2015 and was replaced by Auke Zijlstra on 1 September 2015. On 16 June 2015, the Party for Freedom and other right-wing nationalist parties in the European Parliament formed the political group Europe of Nations and Freedom. Marcel de Graaff of the PVV and Marine Le Pen of the National Front became the first co-presidents of this group.

The Party for Freedom rose in polls during the 2015 European migrant crisis, with the party topping polls 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. The 2017 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.
For the 2017 general election, the PVV had an election platform of a single page. The party won 20 seats (of 150) according to the preliminary results, which was five seats more than in the previous election in 2012, making it the second-largest party in parliament. Despite ending second, the PVV played no role in the 2017 cabinet formation because all major parties said they would not form a government coalition with the PVV.
The party performed poorly in the 2019 provincial elections and reported issues attracting suitable candidates, losing 26 seats, with the Forum for Democracy (FvD) taking many of its voters. The party also saw a setback during the 2019 European Parliament election, winning zero seats, but being allocated one in post-Brexit appointments. This was taken by Marcel de Graaff until 2022, when he defected to FvD.
The party finished in third place during the 2021 general election, but played no role in the subsequent formation.




= Largest party in parliament (2023–present)

=
The fourth 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 the November 2023 general election in which it finished in first place. Some political analysts wrote that the PVV's rise in support was thanks to Wilders' strong performances during TV debates. 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. After the election, PVV parliamentarian Martin Bosma was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives making it the first time a member of the PVV has held the position.
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 an independent politician. The PVV initially nominated Ronald Plasterk for the role, but his candidacy was withdrawn following accusations of fraud. The PVV then proposed Dick Schoof, a civil servant, as Prime Minister. The Schoof cabinet was sworn in on 2 July 2024, with PVV politician Fleur Agema appointed as Deputy Prime Minister.




Ideology



The PVV is generally considered right-wing to far-right, More specifically, the party is considered radical right and right wing populist. 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. The PVV combines its right wing politics with leftist social positions. On certain themes like healthcare, social services and elderly care the PVV can be seen as left and social, though selective.
Political historian Koen Vossen identified four pillars of the PVV's ideology: islamophobia, populism, nationalism and law and order.




= Social issues

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Migration and multicultural society

The party fielded a controversial motion in the 2007 general deliberations on the immigration budget, calling for a stop to immigration from Muslim countries. The House of Representatives at first declined to bring the motion forward for debate. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said it was in violation of the Dutch constitution and international law. Another motion by the PVV, against police officers wearing veils, did gain a parliamentary majority.
In 2012, the PVV party launched a website named Reporting 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 Commissioner Viviane 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." The website caused a lot of controversy within the European Union.



= Islam
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The party campaigns on a strong counter-jihad agenda. More specifically, the party has called for banning the Quran and shutting down all mosques in the Netherlands.



= Dual citizenship
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The PVV seeks to exclude Dutch citizens with dual citizenship from voting, serving in the military, and holding political office. The PVV argues that dual citizens may have conflicting loyalties. While in opposition, the party filed motions of no confidence against cabinet members with dual citizenship, such as Ahmed Aboutaleb and Nebahat Albayrak (both in 2007). However, while in coalition, the party refrained from filing such motions, as seen with Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten in 2010.



Abortion and gay rights

The party utilizes its liberal stances on issues such as abortion and gay 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".




= Foreign policy

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European Union

The PVV has generally taken a position of hard Euroscepticism and argues for Dutch 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.
For the 2024 European Parliament election, the PVV did not include support for a Nexit in its manifesto. This decision was made to accommodate its negotiation partners during the ongoing 2023-2024 cabinet formation, while also positioning the party to benefit from a potential radical right swing in the election.



Russia

A research paper by the European 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 ongoing Russo-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 of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 with the PVV manifesto calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. Following the Russian 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.



Israeli-Arab conflict

The PVV supports the one-state solution and considers Jordan to be 'the only Palestinian state that will ever exist'. In 2010, Wilders voiced his support for Yisrael Beiteinu and held talks with its leader Avigdor Lieberman. Wilders is a frequent visitor to Israel and spent six months on a moshav in the West Bank at the age of 17. The party supports recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and proposed moving the Dutch embassy there.




Organisation






= Name and symbols

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The name 'Party for Freedom' (Dutch: Partij voor de Vrijheid) is a reference to the Freedom Party (Dutch: Partij van de Vrijheid), a Dutch political party founded in 1946, shortly after World War II. In 1948, the Freedom Party went on as the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Dutch: Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie), which is the party Wilders split from.
The party logo consists of the party name and a gull in red, white, and blue, which are the colors of the Dutch flag. The gull symbolises freedom or liberty. The gull had also been used as a symbol by the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands on propaganda posters and for their youth wing, but Wilders claimed it was not inspired by Nazi usage.




= Structure

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In order to register for elections in the Netherlands, a political party needs to be an association (Dutch: vereniging), which can be founded by two or more members. The Vereniging Groep Wilders (Association Group Wilders) was founded by the natural person Geert Wilders and Stichting Groep Wilders (Foundation Group Wilders), of which Wilders is the only board member. The association was later renamed to Partij voor de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom). After the creation of the association, Wilders disabled new member registration, resulting in his remaining the sole member of the party. The party is considered unique in Dutch politics in that it does not organise public party conferences and does not have local departments, a youth wing, or a research institute. Instead, PVV supporters have the option of financially donating to the party or signing up as unaffiliated volunteers during elections. Candidates are mostly handpicked by Wilders who also writes the PVV's platform. Former PVV politician Hero Brinkman unsuccessfully tried to lobby for the party to adopt a conventional membership system and a youth wing. However, Wilders has defended the party's structure, stating that he does not want extremists to take over the PVV, while others have cited the example of the defunct Pim Fortuyn List party which shared many similar policies to the PVV but succumbed to factional infighting following the murder of its founder. 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.




= Support

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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. A 2017 study by Dutch polling company Etnobarometer 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 of Indo-Surinamese and Indian heritage.




= Financing

=
In the Netherlands, a political party needs to have 1,000 members or more to be eligible for government funding, a requirement which the Party for Freedom does not meet with Wilders being the only member.
Financially, the party has been largely relying on donations. The party has not disclosed any of its finances until 2013. According to Hero Brinkman, a former MP for the party, the PVV received most of its finances from certain foreign (American) lobby-groups. According to Reuters, Daniel Pipes' Middle East Forum paid for the trials and security of Geert Wilders and David Horowitz paid Wilders "a good fee" for two speeches given in the US.
Since 2013, Dutch political parties are required by law to disclose all donations of 4,500 euro or more. The Party for Freedom disclosed no donations for 2013. For 2014 to 2016, the party disclosed a total of 148,391.07 euro in donations from the California-based David Horowitz Freedom Center, a total of 18,700 euro in donations from a private donor in the Netherlands, and a donation of 6,853.70 euro from the New York-based company FOL Inc. The 2015 donations of just over 108,244 euro from the Freedom Center was "the largest individual contribution to a Dutch political party that year."




Election results






= House of Representatives

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= Senate

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= European Parliament

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See also



Cultural conservatism
Criticism of Islamism
Criticism of multiculturalism




Notes






References






= General references

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Voerman, Gerrit; Vossen, Koen, eds. (2019). Wilders gewogen. 15 jaar reuring in de Nederlandse politiek (PDF) (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Boom. ISBN 978-90-244-3027-7.
Vossen, Koen (2013). Rondom Wilders (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Boom. ISBN 9789461055224.




Further reading


Hloušek, Vít; Kopeček, Lubomír; Vodová, Petra (2020). The Rise of Entrepreneurial Parties in European Politics. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-030-41916-5.




External links


Media related to Partij voor de Vrijheid at Wikimedia Commons

Official website (in Dutch)

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