EXCLUSIVELY. The success of Wilders' party in the Netherlands. Klynstra-Komarnicki: It's as if the Confederation suddenly became the largest party in Poland

The parliamentary elections in the Netherlands were unexpectedly won by Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party, winning 37 seats. „If we wanted to transfer this situation to Polish politics, it was as if all of a sudden the Confederation became the largest party in Poland within two months,” - Redbad Klynstra-Komarnicki, an actor and director of Dutch-Friesian descent, says in an interview with wPolityce.pl.

In the 150-member Dutch parliament, after 98 percent of the votes were counted, Wilders’ party was followed among others by Frans Timmermans’ United Left (PvdA/GroenLinks) (25 seats), Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberals (VVD) (24 seats) and the newly formed New Social Contract party (20 seats).

Redbad Klynstra-Komarnicki introduces the image of Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberal (VVD) party.

They are colloquially called the party of employers, so in a sense you could say that it would be the equivalent of the Polish PO, but not quite either, because in Poland the PO if it ever represented the interests of employers, it was more those of large corporations, while Rutte’s party represents the owners of small, medium and large enterprises, as long as they are Dutch in the sense of ownership

— Redbad Klynst-Komarnicki points out.

Why is there such high support for Geert Wilders’ party? The actor points out the anti-immigrant nature of Wilders’ party, but also its objection to the EU’s climate policy and the federalization of the Union, which may also have influenced electoral decisions.

The anti-immigrant nature of the party is one thing, but there is also an important element of opposition to surrendering power to Brussels and pursuing the climate agenda. Rutte’s government came very much into conflict with farmers - this could also have influenced the result of the elections. Admittedly, in the Netherlands a peasant party was formed, one could say such a counterpart of the Polish Samoobrona, but probably the voters decided that this party would not get enough support in the elections, so they likely decided to vote for Wilders’ party, which can be said to be in a sense equivalent to our Confederation, mixed a bit with what Samoobrona once stood for

— the actor points out.

Klynstra-Komarnicki draws attention to the feeling of average Dutch people that they are treated worse in their own country than representatives of various national minorities.

From the perspective of the average Dutchman, various minorities have more rights. It is very common for attorneys in all kinds of cases, especially in court hearings, to say to the average Dutchman: „Your problem is that you are a white conservative and heterosexual male.” There is a feeling in society that the law is not equal for everyone

— he says. On this occasion, he recalls the actions of Wilders, which are unfavourable from Poland’s point of view.

„This could end up just like in Poland.”

Wilders is the author of a website where one could report Poles who annoy their Dutch neighbours. So any groups of foreigners in the Netherlands may feel a little uncomfortable at the moment, even though Wilders announced the day before the election that he would be prime minister of all Dutch people

— he points out.

Will Wilders’ party succeed in forming a governing coalition? According to an interviewee of the portal wPolityce.pl, it may prove to be very difficult.

This could end up like in Poland. His party could have already become a power-determining factor in many instances by having a few or a dozen seats, but was somehow excluded by the political mainstream. And Timmermans comments about Wilders are more or less like Tusk’s comments about Kaczynski. Timmermans has moved on to proclaiming opposition slogans, which means that democracy must be defended. There seems to be an expectation on the part of the other three big parties that Wilders will fail, or that he will have to withdraw from his most radical statements, to even apologize for them, for example, for saying that all Arabs must be expelled from the Netherlands

— he says.

Wilders’ mission is not yet completely doomed to defeat, because of the attitude of… Rutte’s party.

It is alleged that Rutte’s party left the door open in the run-up to the election, giving the impression that they could form a coalition with Gert Wilders’ party having seen in the polls that support for it was growing. That is, Rutte’s party did what PiS is accused of not doing before the elections with regard to the Confederation. On the other hand, this may have caused some voters to shift their votes from Rutte’s formation to other parties

— he remarks.

The actor draws attention to the high electoral result of the newly-formed New Social Contract party, which refers to the Christian tradition.

There is another interesting party - the New Social Contract because it has reached 20 seats in parliament starting from scratch. Its leader is Pieter Omtzigt, who left the Christian Democratic Appeal party. Translating this into Polish reality, he is a bit like Jaroslaw Gowin. It’s a party that has a Christian-Democratic foundation, but doesn’t talk about it openly. It’s a party that has a secular program, but grounded in Christian values. So it turns out that people are able to accept a world based on Christian values, as long as it’s not named so explicitly. This may serve as some inspiration for Polish parties - one thing is symbolism, and the other is referring to values that we all agree on - namely such principles enshrined in the Decalogue as do not kill, do not steal, etc.

— he emphasizes.

Tłum. K.J.