Dutch stem the populist tide – for now

Have the Dutch halted the march of populism in the West?

Dr Matthew Partridge
By
published
in Features

17-3-24-Wilders-634

Geert Wilders suffered defeat in the Dutch election
(Image credit: This content is subject to copyright.)

Last week's Dutch elections were "the first test in 2017 of the strength of the populist insurgency sweeping across Europe and threatening the future of the EU", says the FT. Geert Wilders and his PVV party "fused anti-immigrant sentiment with euroscepticism and hostility to globalisation", proposing bans on building mosques. But PVV took a mere 13% of the vote. It seems "the Dutch have halted the populist momentum in the West".

"A government led by Wilders delivering a referendum on the EU was never, ever on the cards," says Joris Luyendijk in The Guardian. While Wilders did lead the polls for a "brief period", thanks to Holland's system of PR such leads "mean nothing if no other party wants to govern with you". Indeed, "the real story last week" was "the spectacular gains for two parties that are unashamedly pro-EU". The truth is "there is no country in Europe where a party or parties demanding departure from the EU are anywhere near a majority".

Voters may have "stepped back from the brink of extremism", warns The Times, but it would be "a massive error" for Europe's leaders to conclude that people are "broadly happy with the way things are". Wilders's defeat was mostly due to "the fragmented, multi-party nature of the country's political system" rather than "a vote of confidence in the mainstream". High joblessness and a "glacial post-crisis recovery" give EU voters "more cause for an angry rejection of the status quo". The basic problem endures: "unless the EU reforms, it will die".

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri

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