The ‘PATRIOTIC SPRING’ in Europe: Geert Wilders LEADS Dutch election as campaign begins

GEERT Wilders kicked off campaigning for the Dutch election today in a vote set to test the populist wave sweeping Europe.

By KATIE MANSFIELD
Express.co.uk
Wed, Feb 15, 2017

Frontrunner Mr Wilders, who is running a eurosceptic anti-immigration campaign, has dubbed the March 15 election the start of a “patriotic spring” in Europe as Germany and France are due to go to the polls later this year.

Mr Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) go into the election after leading opinion polls for most of the last two years.

The PVV is expected to take 20 per cent of the popular vote compared to prime minister Mark Rutte’s 16 per cent.

If successful, Mr Wilders hopes to take the Netherlands out of the EU, close the border to Muslim immigrants and to reinstate Dutch currency.

The Netherlands, a country of 17 million, relies heavily on foreign trade and in 2005 rejected the European constitution and last year voted down a treaty for closer EU ties with Ukraine.

But a straightforward election win is not guaranteed for Mr Wilders.

The Rest…HERE

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 15th, 2017 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Civil Unrest, For Freedom, World Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.