Mostly bad news from Holland

It exposes the crisis of Christian Democracy which in several European countries is being outflanked by economic neoliberals and/or right-wing populists.

It is bad news because together with social democracy, Christian democracy (with all its confessional baggage) had an important role in creating a stable, democratic post-war Europe.

But society has changed and plural identities have given rise to either cosmopolitan new middle class loyalties or to exclusive cultural loyalties sometimes based on sub-urban myths and fears.

The good news is that both the Greens and the social-liberal D66 made significant advances, while Labour held its ground. But together the centre-left parties only have 50 seats out of 150. Even if they team up with the Christian Democrats, they do not have a majority.
The whole left has 65 seats (if the extreme left is also included for the fun of it, because the latter exclude themselves from any government).

So it was not a clear cut victory for the right-wing parties. Technically a right wing coalition of Wilders, the neoliberals, the Christian Democrats and a small fundamentalist Christian party would have a wafer-thin majority but unlikely, especially due to Wilders' trouble with the law and the international outcry this will create.

Another possibility would be a government of national unity between the neoliberals, Labour and the Christian democrats but this could be interpreted as more of the same by the electorate and would play in the hands of the right-wing populists.

Alternatively the neoliberals could end up teaming with Labour, the greens and D66 in a reformist traffic-light coalition which would soften the neo-liberal element as has happened in the UK with the Lib-Con coalition.

Unlike the socialist party on the far left (which has suffered a blow in these elections) the greens (who evolved from the far left to pragmatic, value-based politics) have shown their willingness to join a the most progressive coalition possible allowed by parliamentary arithmetic.

Perhaps yet another interesting coalition defying traditional ideological stereotypes could be in the making... at least i hope so considering the alternative.