Editing Euroscepticism (section)

===Netherlands===
{{See also|Dutch withdrawal from the European Union}}
[[File:Geert Wilders op Prinsjesdag 2014 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Geert Wilders]], leader of the [[Party for Freedom]], a hardline Dutch Eurosceptic party that has been criticised as [[Anti-Polish sentiment|anti-Polish]] and [[Islamophobia|Islamophobic]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Subramanian |first=Samanth |date=9 March 2017 |title=Could the anti-Islam Party for Freedom come out on top in upcoming Netherlands election? |url=http://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/could-the-anti-islam-party-for-freedom-come-out-on-top-in-upcoming-netherlands-election |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318085339/http://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/could-the-anti-islam-party-for-freedom-come-out-on-top-in-upcoming-netherlands-election |archive-date=18 March 2017 |access-date=16 April 2017 |website=The National}}</ref><ref name="Thompson">{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Wayne C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlgtBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA185 |title=Western Europe 2014 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2014 |isbn=9781475812305 |page=185 |access-date=19 October 2020 |archive-date=23 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231123135516/https://books.google.com/books?id=KlgtBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA185#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
Historically, the Netherlands have been a very pro-European country, being one of the six founding members of the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] in 1952, and campaigning with much effort to include the United Kingdom into the Community in the 1970s and others after that. It has become slightly more Eurosceptic in the 2000s, [[2005 Dutch European Constitution referendum|rejecting the European Constitution in 2005]] and complaining about the relatively high financial investment into the Union or the democratic deficit amongst other issues.

A number of hard and soft eurosceptic parties have politicians elected to the Dutch House of Representatives and European Parliament which include:
* The nationalist [[Party for Freedom]] (founded in 2006) is a hard-eurosceptic party and wants the Netherlands to leave the EU in its entirety, because it believes the EU is undemocratic, costs money and cannot close the borders for immigrants.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://nos.nl/artikel/649997-pvv-eu-droom-is-nu-nachtmerrie.html |title=PVV: EU-droom is nu nachtmerrie |publisher=NOS |date=19 May 2014 |access-date=26 May 2014|language=nl}}</ref>
* The conservative and right-wing populist [[Forum for Democracy]] (FvD) party was originally founded by [[Thierry Baudet]] as a think tank to campaign against the [[Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement|Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine]]. In 2016, the FvD was established as a fully fledged party. It is opposed to many of the policies of the [[European Union]] and calls for a referendum on Dutch membership in which it would endorse withdrawal.
* The conservative-liberal [[JA21]] party (founded in 2021 as a splinter from the FvD) is opposed to Dutch participation several [[European Union]] agreements, including its immigration and asylum policies, and believes Dutch identity and self-determination should be prioritized above the EU. It supports Dutch withdrawal from the [[Eurozone]] and for the Netherlands to exit EU treaties it deems a threat to national sovereignty.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ja21.nl/standpunten/eu.php |title=EU en euro - Standpunten - Ja21! - Het Juiste Antwoord |access-date=19 January 2022 |archive-date=18 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118102647/https://ja21.nl/standpunten/eu.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> 
* The [[Socialist Party (Netherlands)|Socialist Party]] believes the European Union has already brought Europe 50 years of peace and prosperity and argues that European co-operation is essential for tackling global problems like climate change and international crime. The SP opines that the current Union is dominated by the big businesses and the big countries, while the labour movement, consumer organisations and smaller companies are often left behind. "Neoliberal" measures have supposedly increased social inequality, and perhaps the Union is expanding too fast and taking on too much power in issues that should be dealt with on a national level.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sp.nl/europa/standpunten/europa/standpunten/cd_63/standpunt_over_europese_unie_superstaat_nee_samenwerken_ja.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524220650/http://www.sp.nl/europa/standpunten/europa/standpunten/cd_63/standpunt_over_europese_unie_superstaat_nee_samenwerken_ja.html |archive-date=24 May 2014 |title=Standpunt: Europese Unie – superstaat nee, samenwerken ja |publisher=SP website |access-date=26 May 2014|language=nl}}</ref>
* The conservative Protestant [[Reformed Political Party]] and the [[ChristianUnion|Christian Union]] favour co-operation within Europe, but reject a superstate, especially one that is dominated by Catholics, or that infringes on religious rights and/or privileges.
* The pensioner's interest party [[50PLUS]] is moderately Eurosceptic.
* The ecologist [[Party for the Animals]] favours European co-operation, but believes the current EU does not respect animal rights enough and should have a more active policy on environment protection.
* The agrarian and rural interests [[Farmer–Citizen Movement]] (BBB) was founded in 2019 and is a soft-eurosceptic party. It supports membership of the EU for economic and trade purposes, but argues the political power of the EU should be stripped back so the bloc is closer to the model of the former EEC, wants reforms made to the Eurozone and is against the EU becoming a superstate.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://boerburgerbeweging.nl/standpunten/gezonde-boeren/ |title=Healthy farmers With each other, for each other! |access-date=22 April 2022}}</ref>

A prominent former Eurosceptic party in the Netherlands was the [[Pim Fortuyn List]] (LPF) established by politician and academic [[Pim Fortuyn]] in 2002. The party campaigned to reduce Dutch financial contributions to the EU, was against Turkish membership and opposed what it saw as the excessive bureaucracy and threat to national sovereignty posed by the EU. During the [[2002 Dutch general election|2002 general election]], the LPF polled in second place with 17% of the vote. Following the assassination of Fortuyn in the run-up to the election, support for the party declined soon after and it was disbanded in 2008 with many of its former supporters transferring to the [[Party for Freedom]].

Despite these concerns, in 2014 the majority of the Dutch electorate continued to support parties that favour ongoing European integration: the [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Social Democrats]], the [[Christian Democratic Appeal|Christian Democrats]], the [[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy|Liberals]], but most of all the [[Democrats 66|(Liberal) Democrats]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://nos.nl/artikel/651490-stemden-we-voor-of-tegen-europa.html |title=Stemden we voor of tegen Europa? |publisher=NOS |date=23 May 2014 |access-date=26 May 2014|language=nl}}</ref>

In 2016, a substantial majority in a low-turnout referendum rejected the ratification of an EU trade and association treaty with [[Ukraine]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/06/dutch-voters-reject-closer-eu-links-to-ukraine-in-referendum|title=Dutch referendum voters overwhelmingly reject closer EU links to Ukraine|agency=[[Reuters]]|location=Amsterdam|work=The Guardian|date=7 April 2016|access-date=7 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35984821|title=Dutch referendum a difficult result for EU and Ukraine|work=BBC News|date=7 April 2016|access-date=7 April 2016}}</ref>

In the [[2019 European Parliament election in the Netherlands|2019 European Parliament election]], Eurosceptic parties had mixed results with [[Geert Wilders]]' [[Party for Freedom]] losing all 4 of its seats taking only 3.5% of the vote. The new [[Forum for Democracy]] established in late 2016 took 11.0% of the vote and entered the European Parliament with 3 seats.