Party for Freedom

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This article is about the present-day Party for Freedom. For the historic party, see Freedom
Party (Netherlands).

Party for Freedom

Partij voor de Vrijheid

Abbreviation PVV

Leader Geert Wilders

Leader in the House of Geert Wilders

Representatives

Leader in the Senate Marjolein Faber

Leader in the EP Marcel de Graaff

Founded 22 February 2006; 15 years ago[1]

Split from People's Party for Freedom and

Democracy

Headquarters Binnenhof, The Hague[2]

Membership (2021)  1 (Geert Wilders)[1][3][4]

Dutch nationalism[5][6]
Ideology
National conservatism[7]
Right-wing populism[5][8]
[9]
 Anti-Islam[5][10][11]
Anti-immigration[5][11]
Welfare chauvinism[12]
Hard Euroscepticism[5][11]

Political position Right-wing[13][14] to
far-right[6][15][16]

European Parliament group Identity and Democracy

Colours   Blue   Grey

House of Representatives 17 / 150

Senate 5 / 75

Provincial councils 41 / 570

European Parliament 1 / 29

King's Commissioners 0 / 12

Website

www.pvv.nl

 Politics of the Netherlands

 Political parties
 Elections

The Party for Freedom (Dutch: Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist,[5] right-wing

populist[5] political party in the Netherlands.
Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of
Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election making it the fifth-largest
party in parliament. In the 2010 general election it won 24 seats, making it the third-
largest party. At that time the PVV agreed to support the minority government led
by Prime Minister Mark Rutte without having PVV ministers in the cabinet. However, the
PVV withdrew its support in April 2012 due to differences over budget cuts at
the Catshuis.[17] In the following 2012 Dutch general election it won 15 seats, having lost
9 seats in the elections, still being the third-largest party. Following the elections, the
party returned to the opposition and in the 2017 election, the Party for Freedom won 20
seats, making it the second-largest party in Parliament. It came third in the 2014
European Parliament election, winning four out of 26 seats.[18][19]
The PVV calls for items like administrative detention and a strong assimilationist stance
on the integration of immigrants into Dutch society, differing from the established centre-
 right parties in the Netherlands (like the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy,
VVD). The PVV has also proposed banning the Quran and shutting down
all mosques in the Netherlands.[20][21] In addition, the party is consistently Eurosceptic[22]
[23]
 and since early July 2012, according to the platform it presented prior to elections in
September, it strongly advocates withdrawal from the European Union.[24]
Party for Freedom is an association with Geert Wilders as its sole member; thus the
party is ineligible for Dutch government funding, and relies on donations. [25]

Contents

 1History
o 1.12004–2005
o 1.22006–2010
o 1.32010–2012
o 1.42012–2017
o 1.52017–present
 2Ideology
 3Positions
o 3.1Dual nationality
o 3.2Immigration
o 3.3Financing political parties
o 3.4Israeli-Arab conflict
o 3.5Party platform
 4Name and symbols
 5Organisation
 6Financing
 7Election results
o 7.1House of Representatives
o 7.2Senate
o 7.3European Parliament
 8Representation
o 8.1Members of the House of Representatives
o 8.2Members of the Senate
o 8.3Members of the European Parliament
 9See also
 10References
 11Further reading
 12External links

History[edit]
2004–2005[edit]
The party's history began with Geert Wilders' departure from the VVD in September
2004. Wilders could not accept the VVD's positive stance towards Turkey's possible
accession to the European Union, and left the party disgruntled.[citation needed]
Although the VVD expected Wilders to return his parliamentary seat to the party, he
refused, and continued to sit in parliament as a one-man party, Groep Wilders (Wilders
Group).[citation needed]
In June 2005, Wilders was one of the leaders in the campaign against the European
Constitution, which was rejected by Dutch voters by 62%.[26]
2006–2010[edit]

Geert Wilders (left) with other politicians at the final television debate before the 2006 Dutch general election

On 22 February 2006, the Party for Freedom was registered with the Electoral Council. [1]
Bart Jan Spruyt, director of the conservative Edmund Burke Foundation, joined Wilders
in January 2006 in order to formulate a party programme and to train its prospective
representatives for the forthcoming national election (then still scheduled for 2007).
[27]
 Spruyt left the party in the summer of 2006 after it proved unable to build broad
conservative backing, and people like Joost Eerdmans and Marco Pastors proved
unwilling to join.[28] After the 2006 elections, Spruyt said he was not surprised that the
Party for Freedom had gained seats but maintained that, if the Party for Freedom had
sought cooperation with Eerdmans and Pastors, it would have won more, even enough
to bring about a CDA-VVD majority government.[29] Later, Spruyt commented that the
PVV had a 'natural tendency' toward fascism. [30] He later qualified the statement, though
he didn't withdraw it. Former PVV candidate Lucas Hartong called Spruyt's claims 'a
cheap insinuation'.[31]
In an HP/De Tijd profile dated December 2006, the party was described as a cult, with
an extremely distrustful Wilders only accepting fellow candidates completely loyal to
him, and compared the PVV to the Socialist Party led by Jan Marijnissen but without
reaching that degree of organisational perfection. [32]
On 10 January 2007, the PVV announced it would not field candidates at the
forthcoming Provincial elections. This meant it would be unrepresented in the Senate.[33]
On 13 January 2007, NRC Handelsblad reported that a PVV intern had solicited for
signatures on the website forums Dutch Disease Report and Polinco, the latter a forum
described as far-right by various organisations, among them the Dutch Complaints
Bureau for Discrimination on the Internet.[34] Any party participating in this election was
required to collect at least 30 signatures from supporters in each of the 19 electoral
districts; of the 1500 signatures the PVV received, the Dutch Antifascist group identified
34 known far-right supporters. In a response, Wilders said he regretted that far-right
sympathisers had provided signatures, denied any personal responsibility for them and
reasserted his dislike of far-right parties like National Front of France and Flemish
Interest.[35][36][37] Noted writer and columnist Leon de Winter later declared the affair to be
the result of a campaign of demonisation against Geert Wilders led by NRC
Handelsblad and de Volkskrant newspapers, as well as the broadcaster VARA.[38]

Geert Wilders in 2007

Former trade union leader and prominent Christian Democrat Doekle Terpstra proposed

an initiative against Geert Wilders and the PVV on 30 November 2007, in the
newspaper Trouw.[39] Terpstra sees Wilders as promoting intolerance, and discrimination
against Muslims. He is supported in his cause by the large Dutch trade unions and
refugee organisations. Politicians and the public are divided on Terpstra's initiative.
[40]
 The newspaper De Pers reported the next day that much of Terpstra's claimed
support did not materialise.[41]
In 2008, the Friends of the Party of Freedom commissioned a producer, who acted
under the name of "Scarlet Pimpernel Productions", a pseudonym adopted out of fear of
reprisal,[42] to produce Fitna (Arabic: ‫)فِ ْت َن ٌة‬, a short film by Geert Wilders. Approximately 17
minutes in length, it shows selected excerpts from Suras of the Qur'an, interspersed
with media clips and newspaper cuttings showing or describing acts of violence or
hatred by Muslims. The film attempts to demonstrate that the Qur'an motivates its
followers to hate all who violate Islamic teachings. Consequently, the film argues that
Islam encourages acts of terrorism, antisemitism, violence against women and
homosexuals, and Islamic universalism. A large part of the film deals with the influence
of Islam on the Netherlands. The film's title, the Arabic word "fitna", means either
"disagreement and division among people" or a "test of faith in times of trial". [43] Wilders
described the film as "a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamisation".[44]
Polling by Maurice de Hond published in March 2009 indicated that the PVV was the
most popular parliamentary party. The polls predicted that the party would take 21 per
cent of the national vote, giving it 32 out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament. If the
polling results were to be replicated at a genuine election, Wilders would be a major
power broker and could become Prime Minister. [45][46][47] However, De Hond's results were
not uncontroversial, as they were based on a panel of people who have signed up for
the election poll on the Internet and thus were not a random sample. According to Joop
van Holsteyn, professor of election research, therefore, De Hond's polls were
not representative of the population.[48] Other Dutch polls (Politieke Barometer and TNS
NIPO) have shown contrasting results, with the PVV often getting less support, though
still remaining very popular.
On 15 May 2009, the PVV asked Balkenende to support the foundation of a Greater
Netherlands actively.[49][third-party source needed]
By February 2010, the PVV had once more become the most popular party, according
to a poll by Maurice de Hond which said it would win 27–32 parliameary seats in the
next election, up two from the previous poll in early January. [50][51]
On 3 March 2010, elections for the local councils were held in the municipalities of the
Netherlands. The PVV only contested these in The Hague and Almere, because of a
shortage of good candidates. MP Raymond de Roon headed the campaign in his home
town of Almere. Fellow MP Sietse Fritsma was appointed head of the local election
campaign in The Hague. Both men would continue to serve as MPs as well as local
councillors after their election.[52] The PVV made big gains, suggesting that the party and
Wilders might dominate the political scene in the run-up to the parliamentary elections
scheduled on 9 June 2010. The PVV won in Almere and came second to the Labour
Party in The Hague. In Almere, the PVV won 21 percent of the vote to Labour's 18
percent, preliminary results showed. In The Hague, the PVV had 8 seats – second to
Labour with 10 seats. The local elections were the first test of public opinion since the
collapse of the 4th Balkenende cabinet in February 2010. The municipal elections were
overshadowed by the fall of the cabinet and the forthcoming parliamentary elections. [53]
On 8 March 2010, Wilders announced he would take a seat on The Hague city council,
after it became clear that he had won 13,000 preference votes. Earlier he had said he
would not do so.[54][55] One week after these local elections, the PVV called for an inquiry
into the elections in The Hague, since a YouTube clip allegedly showed irregularities,
including more than one person entering polling booths at the same time and a voter not
putting the ballot paper into the box. These calls were rejected. The Hague council said
the municipal elections had gone well and that any complaint should anyway have been
lodged immediately after the results were announced. In Rotterdam, a full recount was
held after a protest by Leefbaar Rotterdam, a local party with a programme broadly
similar to that of the PVV.[56][57]
On 18 March 2010, the PVV gave up trying to form a governing coalition in Almere. In a
press release, the party said most of the other parties had refused to give ground to
PVV demands on what it describes as "essential issues". These include what the party
calls ‘city commandos’: street patrols to keep order in the face of inadequate proper law
enforcement. Other obstacles were the PVV's demands for reduced taxes for Almere
residents and its fight against what the party sees as "the increasing influence of Islam
in Dutch society". The PVV complained that it was forced to stay in the opposition
through the manoeuvring of the political elite. [58]
2010–2012[edit]
Maxime Verhagen (left) and Mark Rutte (center) are presenting the coalition agreement with support of the
PVV of Geert Wilders (right) in 2010

Distribution of the people that voted for the Party for Freedom in 2010

In the parliamentary elections of 9 June 2010, the PVV went from 9 to 24 seats (of 150),
winning over 15% of the votes, making the PVV the third largest party in parliament. [citation
needed]

By July 2010, the PVV again became the biggest party in the polls after
the parliamentary elections, following difficulties in forming a new coalition and the PVV
technically being excluded from the coalition talks because the CDA showed reluctance
to cooperate with the PVV. According to the polls, the PVV would get 35 seats in a new
election, which is a record high number.[59]
In August 2010, during the difficult cabinet formation following the elections, the PVV
emerged as a prominent player in a proposal for a new minority government in the
Netherlands. While the party would not gain a ministerial appointment, the PVV would
tolerate a centre-right minority government coalition: a proposed deal that would make
the party one of the most influential forces. Led by Ivo Opstelten, a former mayor of
Rotterdam who was appointed mediator for the next stage of negotiations, the forming
of a government of VVD and Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) with support of the
PVV was negotiated; the resulting coalition agreement "included elements it pushed for,
such as a burqa ban," though the ban was never put in place. [60] The VVD and CDA
would have to rely on the PVV to get important legislation through. With this deal the
Netherlands would follow the "Danish model", since in Denmark the anti-
immigration Danish People's Party also stayed out of government but supported a
minority center-right Liberal-Conservative government.[61] The very fact of the
participation of the PVV in these coalition negotiations has caused fierce discussions in
political circles[which?] and was considered[by whom?] very unlikely until recently.[citation needed]
After the elections, CDA parliamentary fraction president Maxime Verhagen first had
stated that as a matter of principle he refused to negotiate with VVD and PVV about a
centre-right government, saying that the PVV represented views that could not be
reconciled with Dutch law. These objections on principle disappeared in five weeks and
Verhagen turned out to be willing to negotiate over a cabinet whose fate would (also) lie
in the hands of Wilders.[62]
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.[63] Two days later, three members of the States of North
Holland representing the PVV followed his example.[64] In July 2012, Marcial
Hernandez and Wim Kortenoeven quit the PVV, both citing what they considered to be
Wilders' autocratic leadership of the party.[65]
2012–2017[edit]

Geert Wilders speaking at a Lega Nord event in 2013

In the parliamentary elections of 12 September 2012, the PVV went from 24 to 15 seats

(of 150), winning 10% of the vote.[citation needed]
In October 2013, the party expelled Louis Bontes, but he kept his seat in parliament.[citation
needed]
 In March 2014, Roland van Vliet and Joram van Klaveren left the party and also
kept their seats in parliament.[citation needed]
In the European Parliament election on 22 May 2014, the party kept its four seats in
the European Parliament.[66] MEP Hans Jansen died on 5 May 2015 and was replaced
by Auke Zijlstra on 1 September 2015.[67]
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.[68]
[69]
 Marcel de Graaff of the PVV and Marine Le Pen of the National Front became the first
co-presidents of this group.[69]
2017–present[edit]
Geert Wilders during the campaign for the 2017 general election

For the 2017 Dutch general election, the Party for Freedom had an election platform of
a single page.[70] Before the election, all major parties said they would not form a
government coalition with the PVV.[71] A typical House of Representatives has a large
number of parties represented, since it takes as little as 0.67 percent of the vote to get a
seat. With such a fragmented vote, the PVV would have needed the support of other
parties in order to make Wilders prime minister, even if it won the most seats in the
House of Representatives. Wilders hinted that a "revolution" would occur if the PVV won
the most seats and was still locked out of power.[72]
The party won 20 seats (of 150) according to the preliminary results, which is five seats
more than in the previous election in 2012, making it the second-largest party in
Parliament.[73]
The party performed poorly in the 2019 Dutch provincial elections, losing 26 seats, with
the Forum for Democracy taking many of its voters.[74]

Ideology[edit]
This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect
recent events or newly available information. (October 2016)

The Party for Freedom combines conservative, liberal, right and left standpoints in a
populistic programme.[75] On certain themes like healthcare, social services and elderly
care the PVV can be seen as left and social, though selective. [76] Regarding immigration
and culture the party is nationalistic. It believes that the Judeo-
Christian and humanist traditions should be taken as the dominant culture in the
Netherlands, and that immigrants should adapt accordingly. The party wants a halt to
immigration especially from non-Western countries. It is hostile towards the EU, is
against future EU enlargement to Muslim-majority countries like Turkey and opposes a
dominant presence of Islam in the Netherlands.[77] More specifically, the party has called
for a banning the Quran, and shutting down all mosques in the Netherlands. [20][21][78] The
party is also opposed to dual citizenship (see below).
The Parliamentary Documentation Center (Parlementair Documentatie Centrum) of
the Leiden University characterises the PVV as "populist, with
both conservative, liberal, right-wing and left-wing positions".[79]

On André Krouwel's map of the Dutch political spectrum in 2012, the Party for Freedom is conservative on the
socio-cultural axis, and centrist on the socio-economic axis.

In December 2008, the eighth study "Monitor Racism and Extremism", [80] conducted by
the Anne Frank Foundation and the Leiden University, has found that the Party for
Freedom can be considered far-right, although "with ifs and buts". Economically, they
are viewed as a left-wing party. Peter Rodrigues and Jaap van Donselaar, who have
academically guided the study, explain this classification with
the Islamophobia, nationalism, and "sharp aversion to the strange", subsumed
as racism, which they have observed within the party.[81][82]
In January 2010, the report Polarisatie en radicalisering in Nederland [83] (transl.
"Polarisation and radicalisation in the Netherlands") by political researchers Moors,
Lenke Balogh, Van Donselaar and De Graaff from the Tilburg University research group
IVA[84] stated that the PVV was not an extreme right-wing party, but contained some
radical right-wing elements. The study claims that the PVV holds xenophobic ideas, but
not antisemitic ideas – the PVV describes its culture as Jewish-Christian humanistic.
[85]
 "The PVV statements on Islamisation and non-Western immigrants appear to be
discriminatory and the party organisation is authoritarian rather than democratic", said
the researchers, who were looking into polarisation and radicalism across the
Netherlands. They described the PVV as the "new radical right", a party with a national
democratic ideology but without extreme right-wing roots. In particular, the report stated
that the party's pro-Israel stance showed that it was not neo-Nazi. It tends however
towards a national democratic ideology. Wilders called the report "scandalous"—in
particular the link between defending the national interest and the radical right. [citation needed]
An alleged earlier version of the report, leaked to the Dutch daily newspaper de
Volkskrant in November 2009, said that Wilders' party is an extreme right-wing grouping
and a threat to social cohesion and democracy. The paper claimed at the time the
researchers were under pressure to water down the conclusions because of their
political sensitivity.[citation needed] The Dutch Minister of the Interior and Kingdom
Relations Guusje ter Horst, (2007–2010), Labour (PvdA), who commissioned the
research, denied exerting any interference.[86][87] In response, Wilders accused her of
"playing a dirty game".[88][89]
Some commentators and international scholarly publications have argued that the party
is far-right; for example, the ex-prime minister Van Agt regards the party as ultra-right-
wing, and Bert de Vries (CDA) draws comparisons with the small Centre Party.[90] The
political scientist Lucardie, on the other hand, considers it necessary to reserve the 'far-
right' qualification for national socialists and fascists, though PVV is itself widely
accused of fascism.[91] International media outlets, similarly, have followed this
classification.[92][93] The party has been regarded by some as anti-Polish, anti-Slavic, anti-
Romani and anti-Muslim.[94][40][95] Wilders however maintains that he is not anti-Muslim,
only anti-Islam, summing up his views by stating "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam". [96]

Positions[edit]
Dual nationality[edit]
In February 2007, PVV parliamentarian Fritsma introduced a motion that would have
prohibited any parliamentarian or executive branch politician from having dual
citizenship. The PVV claimed that dual nationals have unclear loyalty. The motion would
have made it difficult, if not impossible for Labour MPs Ahmed Aboutaleb and Nebahat
Albayrak to become members of the fourth Balkenende cabinet. The motion had to be
withdrawn, however, after objection from the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Gerdi Verbeet (Labour Party).[97] Maastricht University law professor Twan Tak has
commented on the risk in executive branch officials having dual citizenship. [98] however
the European Convention on Human Rights as reviewed in 2010 ECtHR jurisprudence
has reaffirmed that form of discrimination is a violation of a human right. [99] However, in
2007 the PVV planned to call for a vote of no confidence against junior ministers
Aboutaleb and Albayrak when the new cabinet had its first meeting with the House of
Representatives, claiming that their respectively Moroccan and Turkish passports put
their loyalties into question.[100] In the event, the motion was only supported by the PVV
itself.[101]
The issue of dual nationality, however, was not over yet. On 2 March 2007, Radio
Netherlands Worldwide reported that Labour Party MP Khadija Arib, who had been
sworn into parliament the day before, was sitting on a commission appointed by the king
of Morocco.[102] The PVV said that this commission work endangers Arib's loyalty to the
Netherlands, and that she should choose between being a member of the Dutch
parliament or the Moroccan commission. Geert Wilders said that Arib's remark on
national television that her loyalty lay neither with the Netherlands nor Morocco was
shameful.[103] The liberal VVD party similarly remarked that her "double orientation would
hurt Dutch integration."[104] All other parties were appalled by the PVV and VVD's
comments.[105]
Perhaps in the light of the Moldova ruling, in the first Rutte government in 2010 chaired
by the VVD leader, supported by the PVV, Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten became the
new State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport, having both Dutch
and Swedish nationality.[106]
Immigration[edit]
The party fielded a controversial motion in the 2007 general deliberations on the
immigration budget, calling for a stop to immigration from Muslim countries. The House
of Representatives at first declined to bring the motion forward for debate. Justice
Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said it was in violation of the Dutch constitution and
international law.[107] Another motion by the PVV, against police officers wearing veils, did
gain a parliamentary majority.[108]
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."[109][110] The website caused a lot of controversy within
the European Union.[111]
Financing political parties[edit]
The PVV has declared that, since it is against state subsidies, it rejects the idea of itself
being financially supported by the government and believes the "taxpayers should not
pay for political parties they don't support".[112]
In 2012, the Dutch Parliament discussed tightening the financial rules for political
parties, forcing them to become more transparent. The PVV indicated that it would use
any means available to avoid disclosing the identity of its donors. [113]
Israeli-Arab conflict[edit]
The PVV supports the one-state solution and considers Jordan to be 'the
only Palestinian state that will ever exist'.[114] In 2010, Geert Wilders voiced his support
for Yisrael Beiteinu and held talks with its leader Avigdor Lieberman. [115] Geert Wilders is
a frequent visitor to Israel and spent six months on a moshav in the West Bank at the
age of 17 and the party is strongly open to move Dutch embassy to Jerusalem.
Party platform[edit]
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Other policies that Wilders mentions in his party programme for the 2010 general
election:[116]

 Harsh punishment of violence against Jews and the LGBT community, which it claims is

disproportionately committed by Muslims (p. 13)
 Recording the ethnicity of all Dutch citizens. (p. 11)
 Prohibition of halal and kosher slaughter (p. 55) (However, Wilders has stated that
opposition to kosher slaughter was not part of his party's agenda and that support for the
ban had been withdrawn)[117]
 Limitation of cannabis coffee shops within a radius of no less than 1 kilometer from
schools (p. 11)
 Active repatriation of criminals of foreign citizenship and Dutch nationals originating from
the Netherlands Antilles (p. 11)
 Deportation of criminals having foreign nationality or multiple citizenship back to their
country of origin, after a prison sentence (p. 13)
 Restrictions on immigrant labour from new EU member states and Islamic countries
(p. 15)
 Removal of resources from anti-climate change programs, development aid, and
immigration services (p. 17)
 Abolition of the Dutch Senate (p. 19)
 Shutting down of all Islamic schools and mosques (p. 15)
 Ban on Islamic gender apartheid (p. 15)
 The General Pension (AOW) age not to be increased beyond 65 (p. 21)
 Governmental communication to be exclusively in Dutch or Frisian (p. 35)
 Dutch language proficiency and a 10-year Dutch residency and work experience
requirement for welfare assistance (p. 15)
 Constitutional protection of the dominance of the Judeo-Christian and humanistic culture
of the Netherlands (p. 35)
 Choosing to defend the essential elements of Dutch culture: freedom of the LGBT
community, as well as assured equality of men and women which Islam strongly challenges
(p. 33)
 Respect for May 4 as a day to remember victims of National Socialism. (p. 35)
 Repeal of no-smoking legislation in bars (p. 39)
 Referring to Jordan as 'Palestine' (p. 43)
 One-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict (p. 43)
 Investment in more nuclear power plants and clean coal plants to reduce dependency on
imported oil and because coal is cheaper (p. 47)
 Withdrawal from the European Union.
 Return to the guilder (old Dutch currency) and abandonment of the euro.
 Abolition of the European Parliament and no cooperation in any EU activity.
 Ask the EU to remove the "Dutch" star in the European flag.
 Repeal flight tax or carbon dioxide tax.[citation needed]
 Binding referendum on subjects like the EU and a multicultural society.
 No more tax money to (political) left organisations.[citation needed]
 Keeping track of the ethnicity of people who have committed crimes.
 Select policemen on "decisiveness".
 Binding assimilation contracts for immigrants.
 Taxes on the Islamic headscarf and prohibition of the Koran.[citation needed]
 Ban on headscarves in any public function.
 Support Afrikaners, as it is Dutch heritage.
 Opposition to Turkey's membership in NATO; support for remaining in NATO.
 Halt all support and propaganda for Palestine and Palestinians and recognize West
Jerusalem as Israeli Capital.
 No more windmills and funding for durability or CO2 reduction; no more "fiscal greening".
[citation needed]

Name and symbols[edit]

The name 'Party for Freedom' (Partij voor de Vrijheid) is a reference to the Freedom
Party (Partij van de Vrijheid), a Dutch political party founded in 1946, shortly after World
War II. In 1948, the Freedom Party went on as the People's Party for Freedom and
Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie), which is the party Wilders split
from.[118]
The party logo consists of the party name and a gull in red, white, and blue, which are
the colors of the Dutch flag.[1][119] The gull symbolises freedom or liberty.[119][120] The gull had
also been used as a symbol by the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands on
propaganda posters and for their youth wing, but Wilders claimed it was not inspired by
Nazi usage.[120][121]

Organisation[edit]
In order to register for elections in the Netherlands, a political party needs to be
an association (Dutch: vereniging), which can be founded by two or more members. [122]
[123]
 The Vereniging Groep Wilders (Association Group Wilders) was founded by
the natural person Geert Wilders and Stichting Groep Wilders (Foundation Group
Wilders), of which Wilders is the only board member. [124][125] The association was later
renamed to Partij voor de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom). [1] After the creation of the
association, Wilders disabled new member registration, resulting in his remaining the
sole member of the party.[1][124] The party does not organise public party conferences and
does not have local departments, a youth wing, or a research institute.[1][124]

Financing[edit]
In the Netherlands, a political party needs to have 1,000 members or more to be eligible
for government funding, a requirement which the Party for Freedom does not meet with
Wilders being the only member.[1][126]
On several instances the PVV applied for and received European Union funding. [127]
Financially, the party has been largely relying on donations. The party has not disclosed
any of its finances until 2013. According to Hero Brinkman, a former MP for the party,
the PVV received most of its finances from certain foreign (American) lobby-groups.
[128]
 According to Reuters, Daniel Pipes' Middle East Forum paid for the trials and security
of Geert Wilders and David Horowitz paid Wilders "a good fee" for two speeches given
in the US.[129][130]
Since 2013, Dutch political parties are required by law to disclose all donations of 4,500
euro or more.[126][131] The Party for Freedom disclosed no donations for 2013. [132] For 2014
to 2016, the party disclosed a total of 148,391.07 euro in donations from the California-
based David Horowitz Freedom Center, a total of 18,700 euro in donations from a
private donor in the Netherlands, and a donation of 6,853.70 euro from the New York-
based company FOL Inc.[131][133][134][135] The 2015 donations of just over 108,244 euro from
the Freedom Center was "the largest individual contribution to a Dutch political party
that year."[136]

Election results[edit]
House of Representatives[edit]
Election Lijsttrekker Votes % Seats +/– Government

2006 579,490 5.89 (#5) 9 / 150 In the opposition

1,454,49 15.45 24 / In support of the VVD-CDA minority

2010  15
3 (#3) 150 coalition

10.08 15 /
2012 Geert 950,263  9 In the opposition
(#3) 150
Wilders

1,372,94 13.06 20 /
2017  5 In the opposition
1 (#2) 150

1,125,02 10.81 17 /
2021  3 TBA
2 (#3) 150

Senate[edit]
Election Votes % Seats +/– Government

2011 72[137] 12.74 (#4)[137] 10 / new In support of the VVD-CDA minority coalition

 75

2015 66[137] 11.58 (#4)[137] 9 / 75  1 In the opposition

2019 38[137] 6.46 (#7)[137] 5 / 75  4 In the opposition

European Parliament[edit]
Election List Votes % Seats +/– Notes

Pre-Lisbon Treaty 4 / 25 New [138]

200 16.97
List 772,746
9 (#2)
Post-Lisbon Treaty 5 / 26  1 [139]

13.32
2014 List 633,114 4 / 26  1 [140]

(#3)

Pre-Brexit 0 / 26  4 [141]

201 3.53
List 194,178
9 (#10)
Post-Brexit 1 / 29  1 [142]

Representation[edit]
Members of the House of Representatives[edit]
The twenty members (fourteen men, six women) of the House of Representatives for
the Party for Freedom are:[143]

 Geert Wilders, parliamentary leader

 Roy van Aalst
 Fleur Agema
 Harm Beertema
 Martin Bosma
 Teun van Dijck
 Sietse Fritsma
 Karen Gerbrands
 Machiel de Graaf
  Dion Graus
 Lilian Helder
 Léon de Jong
 Alexander Kops
 Barry Madlener
 Vicky Maeijer
 Gidi Markuszower
 Edgar Mulder
 Gabriëlle Popken
 Raymond de Roon
 Danai van Weerdenburg
Members of the Senate[edit]
The nine members (eight men, one woman) of the Senate for the Party for Freedom
are:[144]

 Marjolein Faber, parliamentary leader

 Martin van Beek
 René Dercksen
 Peter van Dijk
 Alexander van Hattem
 Ton van Kesteren
 Kees Kok
 Dannij van der Sluijs
 Gom van Strien
Members of the European Parliament[edit]
Further information: 2019 European Parliament election in the Netherlands
See also: List of Party for Freedom Members of the European Parliament
See also: Party lists in the 2019 European Parliament election in the Netherlands §  PVV (Party
for Freedom)

The PVV lost all it seats in the 2019 European Parliament election. The party is
however due to have an MEP appointed in the wake of the re-allocation of UK seats
after Brexit

See also[edit]

 Conservatism portal

 Cultural conservatism
 Criticism of Islam
 Criticism of Islamism
 Criticism of multiculturalism