VVD leader rules out new coalition with far right Wilders

Dilan Yesilgoz after talks with the remaining coalition parties earlier this week. Photo: Remko de Waal ANP

VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz has told the Telegraaf newspaper that she will not work again with the far right PVV and its leader Geert Wilders.

Yesilgöz told the paper in an interview that Wilders is “an unbelievably untrustworthy partner” and that the Netherlands merits “adult leadership”.

“We are not going to work with him again,” she said.

The Dutch cabinet collapsed over a week ago and until now Yesilgöz has refused to say if she would form a coalition again with Wilders. He pulled the plug on the four-party alliance after the other three party leaders refused to sign his 10-point plan to reduce immigration.

Yesilgöz told the paper she had taken the decision after talking to many VVD members over the past week. “None of them said that Wilders deserved another chance,” she said.

The PVV, VVD and social democratic green alliance GroenLinks-PvdA  are all neck and neck in the most recent opinion polls, ahead of the general election on October 29.

Yesilgöz declined to tell the paper what parties she was prepared to work with.

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