De Volkskrant, 1 October 2010
“The Wilders government,” headlines De Volkskrant in the wake of the coalition deal between VVD liberal party leader Mark Rutte and Christian Democrat Maxime Verhagen (CDA), who will be able to form a government thanks to the support of the far-right anti-immigrant leader Geert Wilders. The Amsterdam daily notes the immense influence Wilders’s Party for Freedom has on the coalition. “He does not have a cabinet seat, but he is there in spirit,” it says. As well as supporting his partners' demand for an increase in Holland’s €1bn rebate from the EU, Wilders is demanding a ban on burqas, fines for undocumented aliens and stripping immigrants guilty of serious offences of their Dutch nationality.
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