Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders has called for Turkey’s ambassador to the Netherlands to be expelled in the wake of the row that erupted between the two countries over the weekend.

In a televised clash on Monday night with prime minister Mark Rutte, their only nationally screened face-to-face debate before Wednesday’s general election, Wilders said anything less than a firm message would be “an insult to us and our police officers”.

In the half-hour debate at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the two men clashed on the issues of the economy, healthcare and immigration, with Wilders repeatedly accusing Rutte of making false promises to voters and being a “prime minister for foreigners”.

What are the issues in the Dutch election? The fundamentals of the economy are recovering well from the global financial crisis, with unemployment at a five-year low and economic growth at 2.3%. Healthcare and pensions are significant topics of debate, but in the absence of major economic concerns the biggest issue is immigration and integration. The agenda has been driven by the anti-Islam and anti-EU populist rhetoric of Geert Wilders, as well as the wider political climate across Europe. Dominant themes of discussion have included multiculturalism, globalisation, sovereignty, Dutch values, and how far the EU works – or doesn’t work – for the Netherlands. Read our comprehensive preview

Wilders called Rutte untrustworthy and Rutte responded by saying a Wilders government would plunge the Netherlands into chaos.



Police broke up protests on Saturday on the streets of Rotterdam that broke out after two Turkish ministers were blocked from addressing a meeting of Dutch Turks, prompting president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to denounce Rutte’s government as “vestiges of the Nazis”.

Rutte said Erdoğan’s comments were unacceptable but ruled out any further escalation of the conflict. “It’s the difference between tweeting from the sofa and running a country,” he said, referring to Wilders’ absence from the election campaign. The Freedom party (PVV) leader had boycotted virtually all previous election debates and television interviews before Monday’s clash.

The row has overshadowed an election campaign that has been deadlocked, with no party polling higher than 16% of the vote. An opinion poll by EenVandaag, which hosted Monday’s debate, put Rutte’s Liberal party (VVD) level with Wilders’ PVV on 24 seats out of 150. In third place were the Christian Democrats on 20, followed by the progressive liberal D66 group and the green party GroenLinks, each with 16.

Wilders said the row revealed a “much bigger problem” with Dutch Turks who were failing to integrate into society. “All those people that were standing on the square with Turkish flags and showing that they are not Dutch, but Turkish.”

An image of President Erdoğan outside the Turkish consulate during protests in Rotterdam. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Under the Dutch electoral system, no party can gain a majority and elections are followed by months of negotiations between coalition partners. Wilders argued Rutte was insulting a million voters by excluding him from the negotiations in advance and accused his rivals of being “liars and spendthrifts”.

Rutte reiterated in the debate that he would not form a government with Wilders even if the Freedom party leader gains the most seats in Parliament, following Wilders’s comments calling for “fewer Moroccans”. Wilders was convicted last December of inciting discrimination against Dutch Moroccans over the remarks at a local election rally in The Hague three years ago.

Rutte continued: “Since then you have radicalised still further by saying the mosques will close and you will remove Korans from people’s homes. I will not work with a politician like that, either in government or with a supporting deal. Not ever, ever.”

Wilders said: “I say to all Dutch people at home, when you go to vote on Wednesday, if you want to put our country up for sale and ensure that our money goes to asylum seekers, Brussels and Africa instead of our own people, vote for [Rutte’s party] the VVD.”

The PVV leader repeatedly sought to move the discussion on to immigration, arguing during the debate on health that the budget had been spent on free dental care and health insurance for 130,000 asylum seekers while domestic care for elderly people had been slashed.

Rutte went on the offensive on Wilders’s plans to pull out of the EU, claiming that a Nexit would cost 1.5 million Dutch jobs. “That would mean chaos for the Netherlands,’ he said. ‘Britain is in chaos now because of Brexit. Don’t do it, it’s the worst news we could have right now.”

Wilders replied: “Nexit is the best thing that can happen to us. We will be in charge of our own country, we will have the key to our own front door again.” He dismissed Rutte’s comments on Brexit as “scaremongering”. “Rutte said last year Britain would vanish from the face of the earth. They’re doing better than ever,” claimed Wilders.