Geert Wilders, the anti-Islam politician and silent partner in the new Dutch government, is due in court this Monday to face charges of incitement to racial hatred, in a trial that will further strain the consensual style of Dutch politics.
The case comes as the Netherlands prepares for its first stable government since February after members of the Christian Democrat party approved a coalition agreement with the VVD Liberal party and Mr Wilders’ PVV at a divided party congress on Saturday. Though the far-right PVV will not receive any cabinet seats, it has agreed to support the new minority government in exchange for concessions on immigration, including a planned ban on the full Islamic veil announced last week.
The 47-year-old bleached-blond Mr Wilders is answering charges relating to his claims in a 2007 newspaper column that the Koran is “fascist”, and for encouraging Muslims to tear out pages of their holy book in a 2008 film. “Geert Wilders is convinced he has said nothing that is reprehensible,” Bram Moszkowicz, his lawyer, said.
For more: FT.com / Europe - Wilders trial tests new coalition
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