New government coalition in the Netherlands led by the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) Geert Wilders announced that it would continue political and military support for Ukraine.
As European Pravda writes, NOS reports this.
In the coalition The agreement, published Thursday, says the Netherlands will continue to support Ukraine “politically, militarily, financially and morally against Russian aggression.”
At the same time, the coalition will also make it legally mandatory to spend at least 2% of Dutch GDP on defense in accordance with agreements with NATO.
Note that after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Wilders somewhat distanced himself from the Kremlin, calling the invasion a mistake . But he did not support sending additional weapons to Ukraine. However, other parties in the government coalition – for military assistance to Kyiv.
It is noteworthy that Wilders, whose political force won the parliamentary elections, recently wrote that “while the PVV fights for the Netherlands, billions are flying abroad,” referring to The Hague’s April decision to allocate one billion euros in aid to Ukraine.
As noted by Reuters, the four-party coalition says it will seek “the strictest asylum regime in history” with increased border controls and stricter rules for asylum seekers arriving in the Netherlands.
"The provision on the withdrawal of the European asylum and migration policy will be submitted to the European Commission as soon as possible", – says the coalition plan.
With this decision, the Netherlands could join Hungary and Poland, which are also challenging EU migration policies, AP notes.
These plans are likely to meet resistance from Brussels , since EU countries have already agreed on a historic pact for the European system of asylum and migration, and the issue of withdrawal from it is usually discussed at the negotiation stage.
The government coalition in the Netherlands said it would also try to restrict free movement for people from countries that join the EU in the future.
Technology industry association FME, which represents firms including semiconductor giant ASML, said which is concerned that such measures will make it harder for tech companies to hire the workers they need.
The day before, four Dutch parties, including Geert Wilders' far-right Freedom Party, which have been negotiating a new coalition since late November after parliamentary elections, agreed on the formation of a government.
So far, nothing is known about the candidacy of the future prime minister and leader of the coalition. Wilders told reporters that the parties had discussed the issue but would continue discussions “at a later stage.”
Coalition talks have made more progress since the Freedom Party leader toned down his radical rhetoric and agreed not to be prime minister to form a coalition.
Prepared by: Nina Petrovich