Dutch withdrawal from the European Union

Conjecture that the Netherlands might leave the EU From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nexit (a portmanteau of "Netherlands" and "exit") is the hypothetical withdrawal of the Netherlands from the European Union.[1] The idea carried some political sway historically, seeing increased popularity around the same time that the United Kingdom voted to withdraw from the EU, but since then has been discarded as a policy by the largest party that had favoured it.

Location of the Netherlands in the European Union

Political initiatives

In 2016, former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte called the possibility of a referendum "utterly irresponsible" and dangerous to the country.[1] Political parties that are Hard Eurosceptic, or have called for a referendum on European Union membership, include the right-wing populist[2][3] Party for Freedom (PVV) and Forum for Democracy (FvD).[4][5] As of 2025, these parties currently hold less than a third of the seats in the House of Representatives.

Leading up to the 2024 European Parliament election, the most electorally successful Eurosceptic party in the Netherlands PVV renounced their wish for a Dutch withdrawal from the European Union, which was found by Ipsos to have a minimal effect on their polling.[6]

Public opinion

A poll in the Netherlands by the Pew Research Center in June 2016, conducted before the British referendum which led to the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, found 51% of the Dutch respondents to have a positive view of the European Union and 46% a negative view.[7] Another poll by peil.nl in the aftermath of the 2016 British referendum found 50% of the respondents to be against a similar referendum in their country, with 46% of those in favour of remaining in the EU compared to 43% overall against remaining.[1]

More information Date(s) conducted, Polling Firm ...
Date(s) conducted Polling Firm Sample Remain Leave Undecided Lead Ref
August 2024 LISS 1,276 70% 10% N/a 60% [8]
5–9 June 2020 I&O Research 1,638 75% 25% N/a 50% [9]
27–31 January 2020 EenVandaag 23,950 59% 33% N/a 28% [10]
19–24 April 2019 I&O Research 2,510 72% 16% 12% 56% [11]
25–28 March 2019 EenVandaag 27,652 64% 29% 7% 37% [12]
18–22 January 2019 I&O Research 2,510 72% 18% 10% 54% [13]
11–13 September 2018 Ipsos 1,017 55% 21% 24% 34% [14]
6 March – 7 April 2017 Pew Research 1,006 80% 18% 2% 62% [15]
5–7 July 2016 EenVandaag 25,681 53% 39% 8% 14% [16]
23 June 2016 The United Kingdom votes to leave the EU.
10–20 June 2016 EenVandaag 27,000 45% 48% 7% 3% [17]
27–31 May 2016 TNS Public Affairs 981 49% 33% 18% 16% [18]
4–7 March 2016 I&O Research 2,510 67% 22% 11% 45% [19]
Close

See also

References

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI