FVD is deeply disappointed by the fact that Geert Wilders has walked away from the coalition. His party was the last somewhat right-wing force within the already predominantly middle-of-the-road "herd coalition." The coalition seems now to be degenerating into an even more left-leaning government.
Wilders could have taken action to improve the asylum and migration system. For the first time in decades, there was a party in the Dutch government which explicitly aimed to put a stop to mass immigration. Wilders has not made use of this unique opportunity. It is a crying shame, especially for all those Dutch citizens who placed their trust in him.
Forum for Democracy is willing to take a constructive stance in forming a right-wing majority, in line with the wishes of the Dutch people as expressed in the 2023 parliamentary elections. We genuinely want to put an end to decades of mass immigration, disastrous climate and energy policies, the housing crisis, and much more.
Should new elections be called nonetheless, FVD looks forward to them.
Thierry Baudet
Leader of FVD and Member of Parliament of the Netherlands
Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet (born 28 January 1983) is a Dutch politician, academic and author. He is the founder and leader of Forum for Democracy (FVD), and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2017. He also serves as the party’s parliamentary leader.
Baudet was born in Heemstede into a family of partial Walloon ancestry. His forefather Pierre Joseph Baudet immigrated to the Batavian Republic in 1795 when his home in Hainaut was annexed by the French Republic, fleeing from conscription into the French Army. Baudet’s great-great-grandmother Ernestine van Heemskerck was born in the Dutch East Indies and was of partly Indonesian parentage. Baudet attended the Haarlem gymnasium, i.e. a high school with compulsory Latin and Ancient Greek. His first degree, from the University of Amsterdam, was in history, and from 2007 to 2012 he was a lecturer at Leiden University, where in 2012 he graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy with a thesis on national identity, European identity, and multiculturalism. This was co-directed by the philosopher Roger Scruton and was published in Dutch as The Assault on the Nation-State. An English translation was also published, called The Significance of Borders.
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