Far-right leader Geert Wilders has withdrawn three pieces of draft anti-Islam legislation from the Dutch parliament in a move that clears arguably the main obstacle to a new right-wing coalition government in the Netherlands.
The three controversial proposals have already been identified by the Council of State advisory body as unconstitutional – and have been challenged by Mr Wilders’s potential coalition partners, particulary Pieter Omtzigt’s New Social Contract (NSC), as possible deal-breakers.
As coalition talks resumed on Tuesday between Mr Wilders’s Freedom Party, the centre-right VVD, the citizen-farmer protest party, BBB, and the NSC, it emerged that the draft legislation, which had been tabled well before the November general election, had been withdrawn.
Most incendiary of the three, and a key article of faith for Mr Wilders’s long-time followers, was the proposal to outlaw all “expressions of Islam” – which included an outright ban on the Koran and a prohibition on Islamic schools as an alternative to the state education system.
The Council of State was scathing about that particular piece of draft legislation, saying that if enacted it would “deprive an entire population group of its right to fundamental freedoms in a discriminatory manner”.
The second proposal was the introduction of a system of what Mr Wilders described as “administrative detention” under which suspected jihadists could be detained without trial, particularly at times of heightened terrorist risk to the state.
Thirdly, in the run-up to the election Mr Wilders was particularly vocal about his plan to remove voting rights from Dutch citizens with dual nationality, and to prohibit them from holding political office – a move the Council of State said would result in a new tier of “second-class citizens”.
A ban on dual citizenship would have implications for, for example, Dilan Yesilgöz, who succeeded prime minister Mark Rutte as leader of the VVD and who holds both Dutch and Turkish citizenship.
Likewise, defence minister Kajsa Ollongren, who plays a key role in liaising between the Netherlands and Ukraine, holds Dutch and Swedish passports.
The new stage of the coalition talks, which began on Tuesday after a two-week break, moved from the spotlight of The Hague to the high security of the De Zwaluwenberg estate and its grand 19th century “English-style” manor house near Hilversum.
As well as “Islamist” issues, the parties are expected to broach healthcare, housing and exchequer finances in an effort to establish common ground.
As to the benefits of such close proximity, Mr Wilders – who normally sleeps in a secret location with a 24-hour armed guard due to Islamist threats – said: “We don’t usually have this opportunity: to sit together and talk in private with nothing ruled in or out, not knowing where we may end up.”
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