Success has been a long time coming for Geert Wilders. I met the Dutch politician in 2004 as he prepared to launch his own political party. Wilders’ denunciations of Islam and immigrants had already made him a target and he was getting used to a life living in safe houses and surrounded by bodyguards. “I feel like I’m trapped in a B movie,” he told me.
Now, almost two decades later, Wilders has moved from being a bit player to the role of leading man. His Freedom party topped the polls in last week’s Dutch elections. Wilders will still struggle to form a coalition government and to become prime minister. But he has made an unprecedented breakthrough.
His success is part of a clear Europe-wide pattern. Political groups that were once dismissed as fringe far-right parties are gaining popularity — and in some places power. Viktor Orbán of Hungary is now the longest-serving EU leader. Giorgia Meloni has just completed her first year as Italy’s prime minister. Robert Fico, a populist who dabbles with far-right themes, is back as prime minister of Slovakia. The Sweden Democrats are the second-largest party in parliament and support the governing coalition.