Netherlands far-right calls for euro exit

Author (Person)
Series Title
Series Details 6.3.12
Publication Date 06/03/2012
Content Type

The Netherlands would be better off leaving the eurozone than sharing in the cost of further bailouts of the eurozone's weaker economies, according to a report published by the Eurosceptic research group Lombard Street on the 5 March 2012. The report was prepared for the far-right Party of Freedom (PVV) led by Geert Wilders and could feed growing euroscepticism in one of the EU’s founding members.

The report generated heated political and media debate in The Netherlands, highlighting how Dutch opinion towards Europe has turned from pragmatic enthusiasm to ambivalence and, increasingly, to hostility. Mr Wilders called on the 3 March 2012 for the Netherlands to return to its pre-euro currency, the guilder.

The report argued that the introduction of the euro had cost the Netherlands a fortune and that it would be cheaper to reintroduce the old Dutch guilder than remain part of the eurozone However, this was a message rejected by the Netherlands’ other political parties.

Related Links
ESO: Background information: Wilders latches on to euro crisis http://www.europeansources.info/record/wilders-latches-on-to-euro-crisis/
ESO: Background information: Dutch forced to make further budget cuts http://www.europeansources.info/record/dutch-forced-to-make-further-budget-cuts/
RNW, 6.3.12: Wilders anti-euro report gets frosty reception http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/wilders-anti-euro-report-gets-frosty-reception
Dutch News.nl, 5.3.12: Report shows the Netherlands can leave the euro, says Wilders http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2012/03/report_shows_the_netherlands_c.php
Lombard Street Research: The Netherlands & The Euro - Summary Report, March 2012 http://www.lombardstreetresearch.com/adverts_special01_get.php
De Volkskrant, 6.3.12: Wilders’ arguments for leaving the euro (via PressEurop) http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief/1585411-wilders-arguments-leaving-euro
Trouw, 7.3.12: The Wilders Guilder (via PressEurop) http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/cartoon/1590881-wilders-guilder

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