Prime minister Mark Rutte on Saturday launched a strong attack on the D66 Liberal democrats and the anti-immigration PVV as part of the European election campaign.

A poll for television show EenVandaag on Friday said the PVV, D66, Rutte’s VVD and the Christian Democrats would all win four seats in the May 22 vote.

‘If the PVV says it wants to leave Europe, that is not in the Netherlands’ interests,’ Rutte said, referring to the PVV’s campaign. ‘If you slam the doors, you break the windows and I am not going to take that gamble.’

Family silver

By contrast, parties like D66 and the left-wing greens GroenLinks ‘want to open our doors even wider and throw out the family silver as well’, Rutte said.

Parties like the PVV were not being honest with voters, Rutte said. Non-EU countries like Norway and Switzerland ‘have to follow the rules but don’t have any say about them,’ the VVD leader said.

In addition, D66 and GroenLinks are not honest about their support for a European tax system and a European army, Rutte said.

Jobs

The prime minister said everything that Europe does should be about creating more jobs. ‘That means focusing on trade and economic growth,’ he said. ‘This will lead to the jobs we so desperately need.’

Research by Ipsos earlier this week showed enthusiasm for the European elections is lacking in the Netherlands, with just 20% of voters saying they are interested in the May 22 vote.

Check out English summaries of all the main party manifestos on our special EU election section

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