I guess it’s good that some parts of the world are going nuts at a slower rate than others?
Europe’s governments signal relief after Dutch election defeats far right
European governments facing a rising tide of populism heaved a collective sigh of relief after the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, swept aside the challenge of the anti-Islam, anti-EU, populist. Geert Wilders, in the parliamentary elections.
Angela Merkel was among many EU leaders to congratulate voters on what she called “a good day for democracy”. The German chancellor said she was “very glad”, as she thought many people were, “that a high turnout led to a very pro-European result”.
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Putting a brave face on his defeat, Wilders, who led the polls for nearly two years and was at one stage credited with a 25% share of the vote before slumping to barely half that figure on polling day, cracked open champagne to celebrate being the country’s second largest party.“We would have preferred to be the first,” he conceded on Thursday, but added that the VVD had lost eight seats while he had gained five. “We are not a party that has lost,” he said. “We gained seats. And Rutte is certainly not rid of me yet.” …
Gained seats is not good. Still and all, there’s plenty to like in this result:
Populism can be stopped, says jubilant Dutch GreenLeft leader
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GreenLeft was the big winner in Wednesday’s poll, leaping from four MPs to 14 in the 150-seat parliament, topping the bill in Amsterdam and overtaking the stricken social democratic PvdA to become the largest party of the left nationally.As traditional left and centre-left parties suffer across Europe in countries including Italy, France and Britain, the Dutch GreenLeft, formed 25 years ago by a merger of communists, pacifists, evangelicals and radicals, is growing fast.
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The party is unashamedly pro-European and campaigned on a mix of environmental and old-fashioned leftwing policies: tighter bonus rules, zero tax avoidance, sharing of refugees across the EU and obligatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions. …
Time to move to the Netherlands?
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