Dutch hard-right populist who founded the Party for Freedom (PVV) in 2006. The sole registered member of the PVV, he entirely controls its MPs and staff. Won the November 2023 election with 23.5% of the vote, making the PVV the largest party in the Netherlands for the first time. The resulting coalition — with the VVD, New Social Contract and the Farmer-Citizen Movement — was led by the non-partisan prime minister Dick Schoof rather than by Wilders himself. It was the farthest-right Dutch government since the second world war.
Has a history of walking away from governments. In 2012 he brought down Mark Rutte's first cabinet rather than share responsibility for austerity measures, despite supporting it via confidence and supply. Rutte vowed never to collaborate with him again; that cordon sanitaire was lifted by Dilan Yesilgöz when she took over the VVD in 2023, only for her to resurrect Rutte's epithet wegloper ("someone who walks away") after the 2025 collapse.
Views on Islam: Has called Islam "not a religion" but a "dangerous and violent ideology." Was convicted on hate-speech charges after promising in 2014 to arrange fewer people with Moroccan backgrounds in the Netherlands. In the 2023 election he moderated his tone, earning the media nickname "Geert Milders."
Governing record (2023–25): Promised the toughest asylum policy ever, but almost none of his pledges came to fruition. His immigration minister, Marjolein Faber, clashed constantly with parliament, mayors and civil servants. On June 3rd 2025 Wilders pulled the plug on the coalition, complaining that other parties had sabotaged his immigration plans. Coalition partners accused him of a political stunt; the PVV had been sliding in the polls from 33% in early 2024 to about 20% by May 2025. In the October 2025 election the PVV fell from 37 seats to 26, tying with D66 at 16.7% of the vote. Every major party ruled out co-operating with him again.
standards, n.: The principles we use to reject other people's code.