The Netherlands veers sharply to the right with a new government

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00 Photo op six months in the making.

00:02 A government coalition for the Netherlands,

00:05 led by the far-right leader Geert Wilders,

00:08 who promised to stay true to his party's hard line on immigration

00:12 and to opt out of the EU's new asylum system,

00:15 even if it took years to do.

00:18 So we first use the Dutch law and the crisis law we have

00:23 to make sure that there will be less influx of asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

00:28 And that is something that we don't need the European Union for.

00:31 That is totally compatible with European law.

00:34 Wilders said the Netherlands planned to follow in the footsteps of Denmark,

00:38 which negotiated a deal to be excluded from the EU's asylum policies.

00:43 But an EU spokesperson appeared to pour cold water on that idea,

00:47 but added he would wait to hear exactly what the Dutch government had in mind.

00:51 You cannot opt out of EU legislation in the past

00:55 when certain discussions were taking place on treaties.

00:59 Certain countries in the context of those discussions negotiated opt-outs.

01:04 But we are working on the basis of existing treaties.

01:07 The EU's pact on migration and asylum includes tougher borders

01:11 and shared responsibility among the bloc's members to take in asylum seekers.

01:16 The new rules come into effect in 2026

01:19 and the deal's passage comes ahead of Europe-wide elections next month,

01:23 in which immigration is playing a major role.

01:26 Meanwhile, as Dutch politicians outline the government's new policies,

01:30 it still remains to be seen who will be prime minister of the EU's fifth largest economy.

01:35 Prime Minister Mark Rutte is retiring from national politics

01:39 and is expected to be tapped as the new NATO Secretary General.

01:43 Wilders himself has shelved his ambitions to be PM

01:46 amid widespread unease over his anti-Islam and anti-European views.

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