Candidates for next month’s European elections have kicked off the campaign by launching the Stemwijzer tool to help voters choose between the dozens of Dutch political parties.

The online tool posts 30 statements on key issues such as migration, support for Ukraine, budget rules and farming, and asks people if they agree or disagree with them.

The results are then compared with the party manifestos so voters can see which parties are most closely aligned with their own views.

The website, developed by the pro-democracy institute ProDemos, is available in Dutch and English. It is the first time the Stemwijzer has been compiled for a European parliament contest, partly in the hope of boosting the historically low turnout figures.

• You can fill in the Stemwijzer here

In the last elections in 2019 just 41.8% of eligible voters cast their ballot, barely half the proportion that took part in the general election last November. European union nationals who want to vote in the Netherlands should have registered to do so by April 23.

Next month’s elections come at a pivotal time, with nationalist parties such as the PVV expected to make gains at the expense of progressive parties, potentially changing the EU’s direction on issues such as asylum, agriculture, climate change and the war in Ukraine.

Remote

Mohammed Chahim, who heads the GroenLinks-PvdA list of candidates, admitted that many voters feel the parliament is too remote to be of interest. “Often it takes two years after we make a law for it to be implemented by the member states, and that’s when people feel it,” he said.

But he also argued the parliament deserved more recognition for the work it does on areas such as collective security, privacy and the environment, where co-operation between European nations has a real impact on people’s lives.

“Europe is the best answer we have to the increasingly polarised world. It’s our ticket to sit at the table with major powers like America and China.”

Most parties sent their leading candidates to the launch, but one notable absentee was the far-right PVV, despite being the largest party in The Hague since November’s general election. Geert Wilders’s party currently has no MEPs but could take eight of the 31 European seats on current polling.

Co-operation

Reinier Landschot, a candidate for the pro-European party Volt, said voters were aware of the need for the EU’s member states to co-operate. “The PVV’s success seems to prove the opposite, but the PVV have been overtaken by reality,” he said. “They’ve dropped Nexit from their manifesto.”

Malik Azmani, who heads the list for the VVD, said European politicians had a “big responsibility” to explain to voters why the elections are important.

“We need a strong Europe,” he said. “If you take the war in Ukraine, Putin is not going to stop, so we need to work together in Europe to protect Ukraine.”

Cabinet negotiations

Although the VVD is currently negotiating with the PVV to form a right-wing government in The Hague, Azmani denied that it would compromise his party in Brussels and Strasbourg.

“I’m a European politician and my job is to work together with those parties that want to strengthen Europe, not weaken it,” he said.

“Whether that’s keeping Putin out, restricting the number of asylum seekers coming to Europe or dealing with the drugs criminals who are undermining our society, we can only do that with a strong Europe.”

Green Deal

The elections could also signal a change of tack on Europe’s Green Deal. European farmers staged protests in Brussels and across Europe earlier this year against the EU’s plans for agriculture reform, and the farmers’ party BBB is one of a handful that could win seats for the first time in June.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen responded by cancelling a law that would have required farmers to cut their use of chemical pesticides, and progressive parties fear that more measures could be scrapped if the right-wing parties make gains on June 6.

Anna Strolenberg of Volt said: “We had some very big ambitions with the green deal, but we’re now seeing it being watered down. But a lot of people say we need to press ahead with the transition, so we’ll continue to push the whole green agenda and climate neutrality.”

But Mohammed Chahim denied that the EU was backtracking on its environmental goals. “That is the impression that’s being given, but it’s not based in fact,” he said.

“We’ve passed more than 30 laws on the Green Deal, like making companies pay a fair share for pollution. One law has been scrapped, which is the law on pesticides. People say Europe has U-turned, but I thoroughly disagree.”