"Political earthquake": reactions to upset in Netherlands and Poland

Warsaw/The Hague - The Polish presidential elections brought a turn to the right, while in The Netherlands the government fell following the withdrawal of populist Geert Wilders' radical-right Party for Freedom (PVV). It's been a tumultuous start to the political week in Europe, with Spanish newspaper 'La Vanguardia' writing on Wednesday that Europe is experiencing 'a political earthquake'.

'The deep instability afflicting Europe has its two most recent episodes in Poland and the Netherlands. The unstoppable growth of the radical right, fuelled by anger at immigration and outrage at the cost of living, threatens to undermine European unity - especially in relation to dealing with Russia and US President (Donald) Trump.

These extremist forces are the same ones that emerged as the strongest opposition party in Portugal a few days ago, that have already taken on this role in Germany since the recent early elections and that have now become the dominant force in the conservative camp in France. The old continent is at a turning point - in a decisive struggle between Europeanism and national-populist sovereigntism.’

Better sales pitch needed

Pro-European politicians need to get better at selling their ideas, writes the Czech liberal business paper 'Hospodarske noviny'. ‘The Polish national conservatives have once again inflicted a defeat on the pro-European, liberal camp. (...) The election campaign in Poland has clearly shown that it is not enough to fuel fears of a victory for the other side simply because it has different views, does not meet one's own high moral standards or favours narrow national interests over European solutions. 

There is no doubt that the European Union is indispensable for Europeans in today's world - not only as an economic, but also as a geopolitical and security policy instrument. But the pro-European liberal politicians are not good at selling this in the marketplace of ideas, where the nationalist boors shout much louder.’

Concerns for women's rights in Poland

Also in Poland concerns are raised what the new presidency will mean for women's rights. 'No more dreams of women's rights in Poland", Polish newspaper 'Gazeta Wyborcza' writes. 'Nawrocki ran his election campaign under the slogan of ‘traditional’ and ‘Christian’ values. (...)

What awaits us? The end of dreams of women's rights. In 2020, thousands took to the streets to protest against the tightening of abortion laws by the Constitutional Court. In 2023, riding the wave of the same emotions, citizens put their trust in Donald Tusk's current governing (centre-left) coalition - in the hope that it would reverse the draconian law.

However, the coalition of Tusk's liberal-conservative Civic Coalition, the left-wing alliance Lewica and the Christian-conservative Third Way was internally divided on the issue of abortion. They were unable to push through a liberalisation of the abortion law. The mantra repeated by the government was that President Andrzej Duda had announced that he would veto this law. It is now clear that a solution to liberalise the current abortion law has no chance.’

Bewilderment in The Netherlands

In the dispute over asylum policy, right-wing populist Geert Wilders has caused the government coalition in the Netherlands to collapse, forcing new elections which are expected to be held in the autumn. 

The Amsterdam newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’ commented on this on Wednesday: ‘The leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) still believes he can become prime minister. One can only hope that there is no one else in parliament who thinks this is a good idea. (...) 

Much now depends on the upcoming election campaign. Geert Wilders wants to present himself as the victim of an unwilling elite in The Hague. If the centre-right parties put up as little resistance to him as they did in the last election, he could even get away with it.

The newspaper ‘De Telegraaf’ comments on the failure of the governing coalition in The Hague calling Wilders 'irresponsible'.

‘Reckless, irresponsible and absolutely untrustworthy! Geert Wilders has confirmed his reputation as an unreliable partner by withdrawing his ministers from the coalition. In doing so, the PVV leader has let his 2.5 million voters down. (...) The government of (Prime Minister) Dick Schoof has fallen victim to political vandalism. Elections will be held again in the Netherlands this year. The election campaign with mutual recriminations has already begun. This is not good for confidence in politics. What's even worse is that the problems remain unsolved.’