Day one of formal negotiations on forming a minority government of Christian Democrats and Liberal VVD with anti-Islam party PVV support ended in an argument about party leader Geert Wilders’ visit to New York on September 11.

The row, widely covered on tv news programmes on Monday evening, centres on what he will say when he attends a demonstration on September 11 against the building of a mosque close to Ground Zero.
Christian Democrat party leader Maxime Verhagen said he would react to Wilders’ appearance at the rally ‘with sharp words’ if Wilders said anything that could damage the Netherlands’ reputation abroad.
Earlier on Monday prominent Christian Democrat Hans Hillen had called Wilders’ visit ‘risky’ for the Netherlands.
Get used to it
The agreement made in informal coalition talks is that Wilders’ PVV will support a Christian Democrat-VVD cabinet from parliament while persuing his anti-Islam rhetoric.
Asked by tv programme Nova if he would temper his remarks in New York, he said the two parties must get used to his involvement and that the agreement is ‘We have agreed to disagree’.