Berliner Tageblatt - 'Not my dream start': Dutch talks in chaos as Wilders 'scout' quits

Leaders in Europe and around the world are closely watching to see if Wilders and his PVV Freedom Party can form a government with partners wary of his strident anti-Islam, anti-immigrant and anti-EU views.

Wilders pulled off a political earthquake on Wednesday with a shock election win, clinching 37 seats in the 150-seat parliament and putting him in pole position to replace Mark Rutte as prime minister.

But there was immediate turmoil as the "scout" Wilders appointed to shuttle between party leaders to clinch a deal stepped down after media reports surfaced over alleged graft at a past company.

The "unrest" surrounding the reports and the time required to respond properly "do not go well together with my work as the scout," said Gom van Strien, a PVV senator.

"I have therefore told Geert Wilders and the chairwoman of the parliament that I have resigned my position as scout with immediate effect," said Van Strien.

Van Strien was supposed to begin the formal task of forming a coalition later Monday, meeting the top party leaders, starting with Wilders himself.

The meetings were later scrapped.

The NRC daily had reported on Sunday that a former employer of van Strien, Utrecht Holdings, had filed a police report about fraud allegedly carried out by the senator and other colleagues.

Van Strien denounced the allegations as "unfounded" and said he had "complied with all laws and regulations", vowing initially to soldier on, but the pressure apparently became too great.

- 'Not my dream start' -

"Not my dream start," admitted the far-right leader, who had been in bullish mood at the weekend, writing that he would be "prime minister of this beautiful country."

He said he already had a replacement as scout in mind "with more distance from politics", hoping to announce an appointment on Tuesday.

"I don't find it very pleasant that I was not informed" about the fraud allegations, said Wilders.

Lower House chairwoman Vera Bergkamp said it was "annoying to start the scout process in this way" and urged a new candidate to be appointed as soon as possible.

Even before the turmoil of the resignation, Wilders had already faced an uphill battle to build a coalition.

While he has repeatedly stressed his willingness to moderate his extreme views, the PVV manifesto calls for a ban on mosques, Korans, and headscarves, plus a referendum on leaving the European Union.

His preferred coalition is with the BBB farmers party (seven seats), the pro-reform NSC party of Pieter Omtzigt (20 seats) and the party currently in power, the centre-right VVD (24 seats).

VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz has already ruled out serving in a cabinet under Wilders, but has indicated she would be willing to "support a centre-right coalition."

Yesilgoz, who lost 10 seats compared to the last election fought by VVD Prime Minister Mark Rutte, has come under pressure even from inside her own party for this stance.

Wilders urged everyone to "come to the table to solve the problems of the Netherlands", adding that a deal could be clinched "in a couple of weeks" if everyone was prepared to make compromises.

However, most analysts do not expect a government to be formed until well into next year and the scout's sudden resignation will certainly slow the process down.

Bringing together the current Rutte government took 271 days.

N.Fournier--BTB