At the VVD party congress in Nieuwegein, party leader Dilan Yesilgöz highlighted security and the economy as the main priorities for the upcoming elections. She reportedly gave little attention to asylum and migration, despite these issues having caused the collapse of the cabinet earlier this month, according to NOS.
Yesilgöz emphasized the need for a right-liberal cabinet after the elections but did not specify with which parties she would be willing to cooperate. She firmly ruled out any collaboration with the PVV and said working with GroenLinks-PvdA was unlikely.
The VVD leader framed her message around protecting Dutch security and way of life amid global instability. “We live in a world more unstable than ever,” she said, referring to “a war on the edge of our continent where Putin threatens our way of life” and China’s rise as a “technological superpower.” She added that the unpredictable economic and international policies of U.S. President Donald Trump make the situation even more difficult.
Regarding the PVV, Yesilgöz reiterated the party’s decision to exclude Wilders from any future coalition. “Anyone who still thinks cooperation with Wilders will ever lead to good policy on migration, security, and freedom is mistaken,” she said. “Wilders has walked away. I love the Netherlands too much to watch how the interests of our country and citizens are treated under his leadership.”
Yesilgöz also dismissed the idea of cooperation with GroenLinks-PvdA. “The current PvdA, under pressure from a radical left-wing base, is far removed from the PvdA that the VVD has often worked well with in the past, including myself personally.”
Addressing concerns from the Utrecht VVD faction leader Meerding, who worried that excluding the PVV leaves the VVD “at the mercy” of the left, Yesilgöz called it “pure poverty” if Dutch voters only had to choose between the PVV and GroenLinks-PvdA. “Now it is time for us to focus on our own story.”
NOS political reporter Jorn Jonker noted, “The VVD’s message aligns again with where it sees its own opportunities. The word asylum was almost absent from the party leader’s speech, as was climate and ‘green growth.’ Unlike previous elections, security and, loosely translated, the economy are now the campaign’s core points according to the VVD.”
Jonker questioned whether Yesilgöz could form her desired “right-liberal cabinet” after the elections, given her refusal to work with the PVV and her dismissal of GroenLinks-PvdA as radical.
Yesilgöz also warned of increasing polarization threatening democracy and warned the Netherlands could become a “society of distrust.” “Our democracy will weaken. We must prevent this at all costs,” she said, concluding: “Let us agree today: here stands a renewed VVD.”