Cosmopolitans or Nationalists? What the Dutch Election Means for Europe

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Speaking of Europe

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While Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his conservative-liberal party VVD won his fourth election in a row, the other victories went to radically progressive parties, like D66 and pan-European party Volt, but also to three upcoming far-right parties. Jules argues that the Dutch election results are a battlefield between conservative-nationalists and progressive-Europeanists. "All the parties who didn't want to show their colour in that spectrum, lost seats", he argues when talking about the Left's failure to gain momentum. Federico respectfully disagrees: "The real problem of the Left is that it has lost its touch with its people". How should we understand the Dutch elections? And how does this shine a light on future earthquakes in political Europe, like October's upcoming German elections? Is this a battle between nationalists and Europeanists? Is the left once again losing? Does it even make sense to talk about left/right differences? Speaking of Europe will guide you through the messy world of Dutch politics!