Italy has Giorgia Meloni, Hungary has Viktor Orbán, Slovakia has Robert Fico and the Netherlands will soon have Geert Wilders. It is difficult to see an alternative to a government led by Wilders, one of the most recognisable and flamboyant of Europe’s right-wing leaders.
In the country’s general election on 22 November, his Party for Freedom (PVV) went up from 17 to 37 MPs in the 150-seat parliament. The various liberal and conservative parties all performed worse than expected. In theory, they could gang up against Wilders and form a coalition with the centre-left alliance, which is led by Frans Timmermans, a former European commissioner. But they have all become more right wing over the years.
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