DutchNews.nl - Wilders holds the key, says Liberal leader Rutte after meeting queen

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam PVV, holds the key to a new attempt to form a right-wing government, Liberal leader Mark Rutte said on Monday evening.

Rutte made the comment on his return from meeting queen Beatrix to discuss the collapse of right-wing formation talks on Friday. The Liberal leader told the queen he should now be given the go ahead to write a solo coalition agreement which other parties can then sign up to.

The queen is in the middle of a new consultation round on forming a cabinet after Wilders pulled out of talks on Friday, saying he no longer had confidence that the CDA fully supported his involvement.

Three of the CDA's 21 MPs had gone public with their objections. The most prominent, Ab Klink, resigned as an MP on Monday.

The Christian Democrats and PVV have also recommended to the queen that Rutte be given the green light to write a government manifesto by himself, news agency ANP reports.

The manifesto should be capable of attracting broad support but 'I remain a VVD supporter and will write it from that perspective,' Rutte said.

He refused to say if the manifesto would include a commitment to cut government spending by €18bn over the next four years. The three right-wing parties had reached preliminary agreement on economic reform, including €18bn in savings, before Wilders pulled out.

Labour leader Job Cohen, who has suggested he write the manifesto together with Rutte, said he had told the queen he still preferred the 'purple plus' coalition - the VVD, Labour, D66 and GroenLinks.

The queen will meet leaders of the smaller parties on Tuesday to find out their assessment of the situation and what they think should happen next.

The Netherlands has been without effective government since the end of February when the cabinet collapsed over support for Afghanistan. The VVD emerged as the biggest party with 31 seats after the June general election. Labour has 30 and the PVV 24.

According to the recent polls, Wilders certainly holds the key and then some! PVV can also win a lot more seats if there were new elections. Better treat PVV with more respect before they agree to give another chance at a coalition agreement. Mark Rutte and Verhagen have been great, very professional. However there are two other mp´s within CDA that seem to be a problem. I am glad that one CDA´er was man enough to leave, but the other two?

By SandraV | September 7, 2010 6:43 AM

Election in which only 25% of eligible voters participate, is meaningless.

By david | September 7, 2010 10:49 AM

@SandraV: " treat PVV with more respect" ? Respect is earned by giving respect. Someone who calles his colleagues "whiners", "gek", etc. who says "Ik moet niks", who stigamatises entire populations ("the lying Greeks" he called them all in the electoral debate) cannot have the temerity to expect in return unconditional agreement and all because 15% of the electorate (those who decided to go an vote) voted for him.

By dvd | September 7, 2010 11:35 AM

dvd...didn't you know that being rude, loud and insulting your consituants should automatically commands respect? Maturity? Diplomacy? Respect for ALL inhabitants of a country for which he serves? Baaah, for wimps. ;)

By CW | September 7, 2010 12:13 PM

@SandraV: PVP can not claim a fairer treatment than PVV intended for others. That is the foundation of authentic justice. Any other thing is cynicism and hypocrisy.
So PVP is entitled to be discriminated against because of ideology, in the same way that PVV intended to discriminate on racial grounds. (Ethnic registration)
Also is entitled to be banned and harassed, in the same way than PVV intended to ban and harass based on religion is professed. (Koran ban)
Also has have the right to have kidnapped their freedoms, like PVV intended to kidnap religion freedom. (Muslim schools closing)

By zenplus | September 7, 2010 12:41 PM

Obviously PVP is a mistake in my comment. I mean PVV

By zenplus | September 7, 2010 5:47 PM