Geert Wilders, fierce leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, known for its xenophobe and anti-EU attitude, is again under the spotlights. Outside the European Parliament in fact, he cut one of the twelve yellow stars out of the European Union flag, as a symbol of the Netherlands leaving the Union, and unfolded the Dutch flag in its place.
A provocation for sure – and an expedient for getting some publicity few days before the elections. Wilder’s target is having the Netherlands out of the EU first, but also closing the borders to migrants and asylum seekers.
The PVV leader thinks the first step towards these goals is creating a new eurosceptic group after the elections. Yet, he would need 25 MEPs from 7 different Member States to have a recognized group: Wilders has then announced he would be back in Brussels next week for meeting other eurosceptic parties leaders, trying to obtain the alliance of the Front National, led by Marine Le Pen, and the UKIP led by Nigel Farage.
Still, eurocritics seem far from united and not ready to overcome their differences. Marine Le Pen has tried several times to unite the European far-right parties into a single group, showing her understanding with the PVV, the Northern League and other nationalist parties such as the Austrian Freedom Party FPÖ, Nigel Farage is not ready to create such a strong alliance. The UKIP leader has recently affirmed he is not going to have an agreement with Marine Le Pen, defining as “anti-Semite” the leader of the Front National.
