VoorNederland (translated: For Netherlands or Pro-Netherlands) was a Dutch political party. It was previously active in the

House of Representatives of the Netherlands The House of Representatives ( , literally "Second Chamber of the States General", or simply ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General of the Netherlands, States General, the other one ...

as the Group Bontes/Van Klaveren (), a

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

founded in April 2014. The parliamentary group was succeeded by a political party in May 2014. After failing to garner win a single seat in the 2017 general election, the party disbanded.

History

The Group Bontes/Van Klaveren () was a

formed on 15 April 2014 by

Louis Bontes Louis Bontes (; born 28 February 1956) is a Dutch politician and former police officer. He was a member of the European Parliament (2009–2010) and a Member of parliament, member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands (2010–2017) ...

and Joram van Klaveren, two

Members of the House Michael Anthony Banks, better known as "Mad" Mike Banks, is an American record producer. He is the co-founder, along with Jeff Mills, of record label Underground Resistance and was a key player in the "second generation" of Detroit techno. Bank ...

that had left the

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( , PVV) is a right-wing populist, far-right political party in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders is the founder, party leader, and sole registered member of the party. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Wilders' one-ma ...

(PVV), the party they were originally elected to represent. On 28 May 2014, group members officially founded a new political party, VoorNederland, a

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, eco ...

and

liberal conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

and

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

. On 13 November 2014, the party announced that it would cooperate with the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

in the

Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe The Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe, abbreviated to ADDE, was a European political party founded in 2014. It was composed of parties belonging to the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group in the European Parliament (EP). ...

. In December 2014 and January 2015, VNL was joined by former PVV leader in the European Parliament

Laurence Stassen Laurence Jeanne Arnoldine Joseph Stassen (born 8 February 1971, in Sittard) is an independent (politician), independent Netherlands, Dutch politician and a former freelance television presenter of the regional broadcasting TV Limburg (Netherlands) ...

and, leading up to the 2015 provincial elections, two provincial PVV representatives from

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

and

Gelderland Gelderland ( , ), also known as Guelders ( ) in English, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Nethe ...

. On 27 January 2015 it was announced that the members of the party

Article 50 Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for the possibility of an EU member state leaving the European Union "in accordance with its own constitutional requirements". Currently, the United Kingdom is the only state to hav ...

had voted to merge it into VoorNederland. On 21 April 2015, it was announced that jurist and former lawyer

Bram Moszkowicz Abraham Maarten "Bram" Moszkowicz (; born 26 June 1960) is a Dutch jurist and former lawyer. Early life and education Abraham Maarten Moszkowicz was born on 26 June 1960 in Maastricht in the Netherlands. He is the son of Berthe Bessant and law ...

would become the party leader and ''

lijsttrekker In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the candidate placed first on a party list. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government, and the party chair or party leader. Usage by country Net ...

'' of VoorNederland at the next Dutch general election, planned for 2017, but after nine months he was rejected by the party. In the

2017 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives. The incumbent government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte was the first to s ...

, VoorNederland failed to win a single seat, securing just 0.4% of the vote. Because of its election failure and lack of money, the party was dissolved by its members congress on 18 June 2017.

Programme

VNL was a proponent of

small government Small means of insignificant size. Small may also refer to: Science and technology * SMALL, an ALGOL-like programming language * ''Small'' (journal), a nano-science publication * <small>, an HTML element that defines smaller text Arts and ...

and proposed the introduction of a low

flat tax A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressi ...

rate. Furthermore, it supported investment in the police and defence, and it wanted to limit the powers of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

to a free trade area, and a stricter immigration policy, the party had ties with

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

References

External links

* {{Defunct political parties in the Netherlands Political parties established in 2014 2014 establishments in the Netherlands Liberal parties in the Netherlands Conservative parties in the Netherlands Defunct nationalist parties in the Netherlands Right-wing populism in the Netherlands Secularism in the Netherlands Classical liberal parties Liberal conservative parties Eurosceptic parties in the Netherlands Right-wing populist parties Political parties disestablished in 2017 2017 disestablishments in the Netherlands