Frans Timmermans It is, for many Dutch, synonymous with experience and serenity in turbulent times. But he is also identified as a politician punished to act as second to another leader. This condition, which does not seem to hinder the former vice president of the European Commission (EC) and now leader of the reformist bloc in the parliamentary elections of Netherlandscould help him regain the leadership of a government in The Hague for the socialists, for the first time in more than 20 years. If it is confirmed that the position of the most voted force goes to the far-right Geert Wilders, as the polls indicate, and second place corresponds to Timmermans, it would be his great chance to become the next prime minister.
Nothing is easy to predict in the volatile Dutch landscape, a country that has experimented with all kinds of political alliances. Almost nothing is completely disposable in the Netherlands. Not even that, contrary to what has been maintained in the campaign, Wilders’ PVV is really banned from a hypothetical new coalition in which the right prevails, despite having blown up the alliance of which it was part last June.
Timmermans (Maastricht, 1961) has seen another rival emerging from progressivism itself in the final stretch of the campaign: Rob Jettenthe leader of Democrats 6638 years old and whom the polls place among the candidates to occupy the coveted second place in the elections. Democrats 66, or D66, was Timmermans’ original party, until he joined Dutch Labor in 1990.
Timmermans has already demonstrated on many occasions his adaptability. Was foreign minister between 2012 and 2014, in the grand coalition government with the liberal Mark Rutte as chief executive. From that position he went to eurocomisario to become the right hand of Jean-Claude Juncker in the EC.
In 2019 he was appointed candidate of the Party of European Socialists and Social Democrats (PES) for the presidency of the EC. The position finally went to the conservative Ursula von der Leyen. He was left, once again, with a consolation prize, the vice presidency. The new president entrusted her with the defense of the Green Pact, what at that time seemed to be the hallmark of Von der Leyen’s mandate.
Young and urban vote
Timmermans resigned from continuing in Brussels in 2023 to take the reins of the joint list between socialists and greens, GroenLinks-PvdA. Its purpose was to conquer the leadership of a government that Dutch progressivism has not occupied since the time of Wim Cookin power between 1994 and 2002. He came second again in those elections, behind Wilders. He had to see how the representative of Islamophobic Trumpism managed to “convince” the centrist partners he needed to make the PVV the dominant force of the new Government.
Timmermans’ electoral campaign has been oriented towards young and urban vote. He has proposed solutions to the housing crisis that affects young people and low-income families. And they sought convincing lines to reconcile the need to build quickly with inalienable environmental commitments, after having integrated the greens into their block.
Timmermans is a declared enemy of right-wing populism. From his position as Eurocommissioner under Juncker he promoted successive files against Hungary and Poland by their respective authoritarian drifts. The Hungarian ultranationalist Viktor Orbán He hasn’t forgiven himself. If there is something that does seem to be ruled out in the Netherlands, it is a cooperation between Timmermans and Wilders, a member of the Patriots for Europe, Orbán’s group, the French Marine Le Pen and spanish Santiago Abascalamong others.
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