European elections: The Netherlands is not against Europe

In the European election campaign in the Netherlands right-wing populist Geert Wilders' anti-European Party for Freedom (PVV) has emerged as the country's second-strongest political force. The parties of the middle were the great losers, particularly the Social Democrats. The daily Trouw analyses the election results: "In the end this outcome shows that the Netherlands is not nearly as eurosceptic as one would have supposed four years ago [when two-thirds rejected the European constitution]. This is an important conclusion after years of doubts about the attitude of our country, which in 1957 stood at the cradle of European cooperation. … The voter turnout was pretty much the same as in 2004, but considerably higher than in the 1990s. From this one can deduce that Europe now beats stronger in our hearts and minds. Expectations can't be that high in view of the hazy position of the European Parliament within what continues to be a pure confederation of states. In this context multilingualism poses a major stumbling block for European debate."

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