“The European People’s Party’s reaction to the new Dutch government has shown the true intellectual weakness of the Conservatives in Europe”, said PES General Secretary Philip Cordery. “Reading the statement by the EPP President, Mr Martens, we see that all the rhetoric cannot hide their true motivation – power whatever the cost”.

Mr. Cordery was speaking after the EPP had reacted to the conclusion of negotiations in the Netherlands around the formation of a new government. The latest proposal has put the Christian Democrats and Liberal Party in government with tacit support of PVV, the far-right party of Mr. Geert Wilders.

Mr. Cordery continued that; “It is astonishing that the EPP’s own President acknowledges that the party supporting his own national member party is one which has an explicit anti-Islamic agenda, and yet this is not enough for him to condemn the arrangement. This is typical of the ‘have your cake and eat it’ politics of the Right”.

Mr. Martens had earlier issued a statement that the EPP would not work with extreme parties at European level, but refused to explicitly criticise the Dutch Christian Democrats for doing exactly this at national level.

The Party of European Socialists (PES) has condemned the arrangement of the Dutch Liberals and Christian Democrats, calling their link to the PVV a ‘dangerous legitimisation’ of an extreme right presence.

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For further information please contact Brian Synnott on +32 474 98 96 75 (brian.synnott@pes.org)