Country report non-discrimination : transposition and implementation at national level of Council Directives 2000/43 and 2000/78 : Netherlands [2024]

The Netherlands is a decentralised, unitary state and part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (which also includes the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten). King Willem-Alexander is head of state. The Netherlands has a parliamentary system of Government with a bicameral Parliament. The Dutch electoral system is one of proportional representation, with the result that the Government always consists of a coalition of political parties. In recent years the political landscape has become increasingly fragmented: after the most recent general elections (in 2023) 15 political parties were represented in the Second Chamber of Parliament, which is made up of 150 seats. Since the turn of the millennium considerable influence has been gained by populist parties on the radical right, notably the Freedom Party (PVV) and more recently Forum for Democracy (Forum or FvD), whose political agendas are typically nativist, anti-immigrant and anti-Islam. On the other side of the political spectrum the parties DENK and Bij1 strongly advocate the eradication of racism and discrimination, however with a much smaller number of seats. The PVV is currently the biggest party in the Second Chamber with 37 seats. Although negotiations to form a new coalition had started, with the PVV, the Liberal Party (VVD), New Social Contract (NSC) and the Farmer's Citizen's Movement (Boer Burger Beweging, BBB) as protagonists, by 1 January 2024 (the cut-off date for this report) an agreement was not yet in sight. A significant obstacle to agreement is doubt about the PVV's readiness to respect the rule of law and refrain from discrimination, despite assurances by party leader Geert Wilders that if appointed he would be a prime minister 'for all Dutch citizens'.