Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a right-wing populist, far-right political party in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders is the founder, party leader, and sole registered member of the party. PVV's main issues are migration and critique of Islam. The PVV has proposed banning the Quran and shutting down all mosques in the Netherlands. The party is Eurosceptic and favoured withdrawal from the EU until 2024.
Founded in 2006 as the successor to Wilders' one-man group in the House of Representatives, it obtained nine seats in the 2006 general election. In the 2010 general election, it obtained 24 seats, making it the third-largest party. At that time, the PVV agreed to provide confidence and supply to the minority first Rutte cabinet. PVV withdrew its support in April 2012 due to differences over budget cuts. In the following 2012 general election, it lost 9 seats. Following the election, the party returned to the opposition until 2023. In the 2023 general election, it obtained 37 seats and became the largest party in the House of Representatives. After the election, it entered government for the first time as part of the Schoof cabinet. In 2025 the party withdrew from the cabinet and lost 11 seats in the subsequent election.
History
Group Wilders (2004–2005)
The party's origins trace back to Geert Wilders' departure from the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in September 2004. The immediate cause was Wilders' opposition to the potential accession of Turkey to the European Union, though more broadly, he had become increasingly radicalized. Following his departure, he continued in parliament as a one-man group, Groep Wilders.Wilders was joined by Bart Jan Spruyt of the Edmund Burke Foundation, with both aiming to establish a conservative party. Wilders published a manifesto titled Independence Declaration, primarily authored by Spruyt. Initially, they had planned to release it jointly with Pim Fortuyn List politicians Joost Eerdmans and Marco Pastors, but Wilders ultimately withdrew from the collaboration. Spruyt left the party in August 2006, after determining that Wilders was less focused on forming a conservative party and more concentrated on issues related to Islam and immigration.
Growth (2006–2010)
Wilders' party had for a long time polled low in polls, despite some media attention. Wilders' leading role in the campaign against the European Constitution, which was rejected by Dutch voters by 62%, led to a rise. In the run-up to the 2006 general election, Wilders founded the Party for Freedom. The campaign focused on Islam, with Wilders warning of a "tsunami of Islamization". Despite low polling, the party won 9 seats. The seats were taken by the "old nine": Wilders, Fleur Agema, Raymond de Roon, Hero Brinkman, Martin Bosma, Dion Graus, Barry Madlener, Teun van Dijck and Sietse Fritsma.On 28 November 2007, Wilders announced his film, Fitna, suggesting it would include scenes of burning the Quran. The Dutch government, the European Union, and other international organizations feared a repeat of the 2005 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, which led to a media hype. Government officials and politicians attempted to dissuade Wilders from releasing the film. Following multiple delays, Fitna was released in March 2008. Although the Dutch government distanced itself from the film and it received international reactions, it offered little new, and the anticipated escalation did not materialize. Fitna later became part of a hate speech trial against Geert Wilders, in which he was ultimately acquitted.
2010 Municipal elections
The PVV participated in the March 2010 municipal elections only in The Hague and Almere due to a shortage of suitable candidates. MPs Sietse Fritsma and Raymond de Roon headed the candidate lists. The PVV emerged as the largest party in Almere, winning 22% of the votes, and the second largest in The Hague with 17%. Wilders was lijstduwer in The Hague and was elected through preference votes, subsequently joining the council. However, negotiations to join the municipal executive failed in both cities, partly due to the PVV's demand to ban headscarves for civil servants.Coalition government (2010–2012)
In the 9 June 2010 general election, the PVV went from nine to 24 seats. During the subsequent cabinet formation, the PVV agreed to provide confidence and supply to a right-wing minority coalition of People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Christian Democratic Appeal, despite opposition in the latter party. Providing only confidence and supply, it had no representation within the cabinet. The PVV did not have to support everything in the coalition agreement of CDA and VVD, but only which was agreed upon in a separate gedoogakkoord, which included immigration policy, security, healthcare and financial policy.In 2012, the PVV party launched a website named Reporting Centre on Central and East Europeans to receive complaints about Central and East European immigrants in the Netherlands. 'Do you have problems with people from Central and Eastern Europe? Have you lost your job to a Pole, a Bulgarian, a Romanian or another East European? We want to know,' the website states. It displays newspaper headlines such as 'Wouldn't it be better if you went back home?' and 'East Europeans, increasingly criminal'. The European Commission has condemned the website, and EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding declared, "We call on all citizens of the Netherlands not to join in this intolerance. Citizens should instead clearly state on the PVV's website that Europe is a place of freedom." The website caused a lot of controversy within the European Union.
On 20 March 2012, Hero Brinkman quit the party, citing a lack of democratic structure within the PVV among other things; qualifying this with a statement of continued support for the minority Rutte cabinet. Two days later, three members of the States of North Holland representing the PVV followed him. In July 2012, Marcial Hernandez and Wim Kortenoeven quit the PVV, both citing what they considered to be Wilders' autocratic leadership of the party.
Opposition (2012–2023)
In the parliamentary elections of 12 September 2012, the PVV went from 24 to 15 seats, winning 10% of the vote. In October 2013, the party expelled Louis Bontes, but he kept his seat in parliament.During election night of the 2014 municipal elections, Wilders asked a crowd of his followers whether they wanted more or less Moroccans, to which the crowd replied with "Less, less, less". This led to commotion, including within the party. Some municipal and provincial councilors left the party, as well as MPs Roland van Vliet and Joram van Klaveren. Wilders was later found guilty of in, but received no sentence.
In the European Parliament election on 22 May 2014, the party kept its four seats in the European Parliament. On 16 June 2015, the Party for Freedom and other right-wing nationalist parties in the European Parliament formed the political group Europe of Nations and Freedom. Marcel de Graaff of the PVV and Marine Le Pen of the National Front became the first co-presidents of this group.
File:Geert Wilders tijdens een politieke campagne in Spijkenisse.jpg|thumb|Geert Wilders during the campaign for the 2017 general election
The Party for Freedom rose in polls during the 2015 European migrant crisis, with the party topping polls from September 2015 through to late February 2017. However, in the relative absence of Geert Wilders during the campaign – notably refusing to participate in both RTL debates – support for the PVV collapsed, and the VVD secured a narrow lead in the final weeks before the election. The 2017 Dutch–Turkish diplomatic incident happened less than a week before the election; it was speculated that this benefited the Prime Minister's party, as Rutte's response to the incident was well received.
For the 2017 general election, the PVV had an election platform of a single page. The party won 20 seats, which was five seats more than the previous election. Despite ending second, the PVV played no role in the 2017 cabinet formation because all major parties said they would not form a government coalition with the PVV.
The party performed poorly in the 2019 provincial elections and reported issues attracting suitable candidates. The party lost 26 seats, with the Forum for Democracy taking many of its voters. The party also saw a setback during the 2019 European Parliament election, winning zero seats, but being allocated one in post-Brexit appointments. This was taken by Marcel de Graaff until 2022, when he defected to FvD.
The party finished in third place during the 2021 general election, but played no role in the subsequent formation.
Largest party in parliament (2023–2025)
The fourth Rutte cabinet fell in July 2023, after the parties failed to agree on measures to restrict migration. The party saw a massive resurgence in support and its best result to date during the November 2023 general election in which it finished in first place. It was also noted Wilders had softened some of his statements and moderated some of the PVV's positions, and that immigration was one of the most important issues of the election which helped to boost his appeal. After the election, PVV parliamentarian Martin Bosma was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives making it the first time a member of the PVV has held the position.In May 2024, after six months of negotiations, a coalition deal was struck between the PVV, NSC, BBB, and VVD. During the talks, all parties agreed that none of their leaders would serve as Prime Minister, opting instead for an independent politician. The PVV initially nominated Ronald Plasterk for the role, but his candidacy was withdrawn following accusations of fraud. The PVV then proposed Dick Schoof, a civil servant, as Prime Minister. The Schoof cabinet was sworn in on 2 July 2024, with PVV politician Fleur Agema appointed as Deputy Prime Minister. The PVV withdrew from the cabinet on 3 June 2025 after failing to come to an agreement with coalition partners over amending the Netherlands's asylum rules.