Dutch government faces collapse as Wilders threatens to exit coalition

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands’ 11-month-old coalition government appeared close to collapse Monday after far-right leader Geert Wilders said he would “sleep on” a decision on whether to pull out of the fragile four-party pact.

Last week, Wilders demanded the government sign on to a 10-point plan that aims to radically slash migration, including using the army to guard land borders and turning away all asylum-seekers. He said that if immigration policy is not toughened up, his party “is out of the Cabinet.”

The government crisis comes just three weeks before the Netherlands is scheduled to host a summit of NATO leaders in The Hague.

After talks Monday night with the leaders of the three other parties that make up the ruling coalition, Wilders told reporters “we will meet each other tomorrow, but it doesn't look good.”

Wilders has built his political career on calling for hard-line policies against Islam and migration in the Netherlands. Long in opposition, his party won elections in November 2023 and is the largest in the coalition.

Now he says his patience has run out after months of talks and little action from the coalition to crack down on migration.

After Monday's meeting, Wilders’ three coalition partners told him to come up with concrete proposals for changes to the current agreement and expressed frustration at his repeated threats to bring down the government.

“If your goal is to blow things up, just say so,” Dilan Yesilgöz, leader of the right-wing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, told reporters after the hour-long meeting.

According to the leader of the populist Farmers Citizens Movement party Caroline van der Plas, “The Netherlands does not like quitters.”

In February, Wilders also threatened to back out of the coalition if a pair of bills limiting asylum didn’t pass, but he ultimately backed down.

Wilders’ latest threat comes as conservative Karol Nawrocki was announced the winner of Poland’s weekend presidential runoff election.

The outcome suggests that Poland can be expected to take a more populist and nationalist path under its new president, who was backed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

FILE - Anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders of the PVV, or Party for Freedom, is interviewed after casting his ballot for the European election in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

FILE - Anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, takes his seat at the high security court at Schiphol, near Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)