Talks on forming a right-wing coalition appear to have stalled after PVV leader Geert Wilders said he saw no point in continuing talks with the Liberals without the Christian Democrats, and the CDA said it would not join in until the PVV and Liberals had sorted out their differences.
CDA leader Maxime Verhagen has reportedly said he wants to be sure that Liberal leader Mark Rutte and Wilders have agreed what to do about the economy and how to deal with Wilders’ calls for ethnic resigistration, a ban on non-western immigration and a tax on Muslim headscarves before he joins any coalition talks.
According to the Volkskrant, Verhagen is under heavy pressure from the rest of the party to go into opposition, rather than join up with the anti-Islam PVV.
Meetings
The party’s senior officials will discuss events on Friday and it has already been agreed to put any coalition plans to a vote at a special CDA congress.
The CDA vote almost halved at last week’s general election and many feel it needs time to come to terms with losing so much support. Others do not want to be associated with the anti-immigrant rhetoric of Wilders.
Verhagen is due to meet coalition negotiator Uri Rosenthal on Thursday. Wilders and Liberal leader Mark Rutte will have their own talks with Rosenthal later in the day.
