Forza! Nederland

Last updated
Fortuynist Organization for a Realistic Pragmatic Approach
Fortuynistische Organisatie tot een Realistische Zakelijke Aanpak
AbbreviationForza! Netherlands
Leader Paul Meijer (2004–20)
Erik Vermeulen (2020–22)
Ralph Castricum (2022–)
Founded19 February 2004
Split from Pim Fortuyn List
Headquarters Hoofddorp
Taurusavenue 100
Haarlemmermeer
Ideology Right-wing populism
Populism
Fortuynism
Colours  Black
  Orange
Website
www.forza.nu

Forza! Nederland (an abbreviation of Fortuynistische Organisatie voor een Realistische Zakelijke Aanpak) is a Dutch right-wing populist political organisation active in the Netherlands. Despite the name, the party has no connection nor is part of Forza Italia.

Contents

Forza! is active in several municipalities in the Netherlands and was represented in the States-Provincial of North Holland until 2015. Forza! is known to be as one of the successors of the former Pim Fortuyn List and very outspoken against Islam, refugees and in favor for referendums and can be considered as a local counterpart or alternative of the Party for Freedom and JA21.

History

2003–2009

The party's history began in 2003 when Paul Meijer and Fleur Agema were disbarred from the States-Provincial Pim Fortuyn List. Meijer and Agema founded the party to participate in the 2006 elections, but failed to raise the money needed to participate. In 2006, Agema left the party and joined the Party for Freedom of Geert Wilders. Forza! participated in the 2006 Dutch municipal elections in Haarlem and Haarlemmermeer but won no seats in any municipalities.

Forza! tried to cooperate with Rita Verdonk's Trots op Nederland but the differences between the two parties could not be resolved so it stranded.

2010–2014

In the Dutch municipal elections of 2010, Forza! again participated in Haarlemmermeer and Haarlem. In Haarlem the party won no seats. In Haarlemmermeer the party won 3 seats in the town council. Forza! chairman Paul Meijer became the house leader.

Paul Meijer, 2018 Paul Meijer (politicus).jpg
Paul Meijer, 2018

In late 2012, Forza! Netherlands also gained a seat in the States-Provincial of North Holland. Monica Nunes switched from the Party for Freedom to Forza! and represented the political organisation. In 2015 she was disbarred after not showing up in the state-provincial for almost a year. Forza! didn't return in the States-Provincial to give the PVV a chance to grow. The party later officially declared that they were against the form of a States-Provincial and wanted to abolish this.

In 2014, Forza! announced that the organisation didn't want to participate in national elections anymore and only would be active in various municipalities in the Netherlands. At the Municipal elections of 2014, the party grew from three to four seats in Haarlemmermeer, but lost two of them six months later after a conflict between Meijer and two other Forza! councillors. The party also participated in Velsen as Forza! IJmond and won two seats.

2015–2019

In 2015, a councillor of a local party in Spijkenisse joined Forza! and also in 2016 a councillor in Castricum joined the party, making Forza! represented in four different municipalities. In 2017, Forza! chairman Meijer announced that the party would also participate in the municipalities Maassluis and Enschede at the municipal elections in 2018. But the local leaders of the two cities stopped their campaigns just before the elections because of personal threats.

In 2018, Forza! won one seat in the city of Castricum and went from two to three seats in the city of Velsen. In the city of Spijkenisse, Forza! lost all her seats. The elections in Haarlemmermeer resulted in five seats, making Forza! the third biggest party. However, despite the big win, they were left out of participation in the Municipal executive.

Erik Vermeulen, partyleader 2020-2022 Erik Vermeulen.jpg
Erik Vermeulen, partyleader 2020-2022

Since 2020

In 2020, a battle of directions broke out in the party. Some board members accused Paul Meijer of abusing the fraction budget. After an integrity report was made against him to the municipality, he was placed on non-active status and replaced by Forza! Haarlemmermeer council member Jordy Schaap. The faction in Haarlemmmermeer fell apart into different camps, whereby two Forza! councilors left the party in october. [1] In January 2021, the two separated members returned to the party and Meijer was expelled from the local fraction and the national party. His party chairmanship had ended in december 2020 and the new board, now consisting of Ralph Castricum and Erik Vermeulen decided not to let Meijer rejoin Forza! [2] Both Meijer and the other board members subsequently claimed to represent the party. [3] Meijer went to court and demanded that Forza! was returned to him and that a board chosen by him was to be appointed as the rightful party board. However, the national Court decided that Meijer was in the wrong and that the party did not belong to him alone. In November 2022 Meijer was also convicted of fraud from the party treasury and ordered to repay an amount of 32,692 euros. Meijer, by then, had switched to the political party BVNL.

At the 2022 Dutch municipal elections, Forza! lost one seat in Velsen, two in Haarlemmermeer and gained one in Castricum. The party was later also active in De Bilt and Rucphen.


Organization

Until 2014, Forza! was a party with members and people could become a member. After 2014 the party no longer accepted new membership applications. The members of the association are only those sitting on the party board. In 2021 that decision was reversed by the current party board.

Related Research Articles

The Pim Fortuyn List was a right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered nationalist as well as adhering to its own distinct ideology of Fortuynism according to some commentators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livable Netherlands</span> Political party in Netherlands

Livable Netherlands was a Dutch political party. Pim Fortuyn began his political career in the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of the Netherlands</span>

The Netherlands is a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands can be described as a consociational state. Dutch politics and governance are characterised by a common striving for broad consensus on important issues, within both of the political community and society as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barend Biesheuvel</span> Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1971 to 1973

Barend Willem Biesheuvel was a Dutch politician of the defunct Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) now the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 6 July 1971 until 11 May 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beverwijk</span> Municipality in North Holland, Netherlands

Beverwijk is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast. A railway tunnel and two motorway tunnels cross the canal between Beverwijk and the nearby city of Haarlem on the south side of the canal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castricum</span> Municipality in North Holland, Netherlands

Castricum is a municipality and a town in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude</span> Former municipality in North Holland, Netherlands

Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude is a former municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland. It had a population of 5,760 in August 2017. On 1 January 2019, it merged with the municipality of Haarlemmermeer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haarlemmermeer</span> Municipality in North Holland, Netherlands

Haarlemmermeer is a municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Haarlemmermeer is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water. The name Haarlemmermeer means 'Haarlem's lake', referring to the body of water from which the region was reclaimed in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Velsen</span> Municipality in North Holland, Netherlands

Velsen is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located on both sides of the North Sea Canal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Greens (Netherlands)</span> Political party in the Netherlands

The Greens is a political party in the Netherlands. It advocates for Green politics, an unconditional basic income and emphasises its anti-militarism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in the Netherlands</span>

Elections in the Netherlands are held for five territorial levels of government: the European Union, the state, the twelve Provinces, the 21 water boards and the 342 municipalities. Apart from elections, referendums were also held occasionally, but have been removed from the law in 2018. The most recent national election results and an overview of the resulting seat assignments and coalitions since World War II are shown at the bottom of this page.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ad Melkert</span> Dutch politician

Adrianus Petrus Wilhelmus "Ad" Melkert is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the Labour Party (PvdA) who has served as a Member of the Council of State since 20 January 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libertarian Party (Netherlands)</span> Political party in Netherlands

The Libertarian Party is a libertarian political party in the Netherlands founded in 1993. It intends to develop "a free world, a world in which no one is forced to sacrifice his or her life and property for the benefit of others". The party's inaugural leader and chairman was the controversial jurist and tax consultant Toine Manders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennemerland</span> Coastal region in North Holland, the Netherlands

Kennemerland is a coastal region in the northwestern Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It includes the sand dunes north of the North Sea Canal, as well as the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fleur Agema</span> Dutch politician (born 1976)

Marie-Fleur Agema is a Dutch politician and former spatial designer, serving as First Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport in the Schoof cabinet since 2024. Agema previously served as a member of the House of Representatives for the far right Party for Freedom between 30 November 2006 and 2 July 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans de Boer</span> Dutch politician (born 1937)

Hans Andries de Boer is a former Dutch politician of the defunct Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and trade association executive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Smolders</span> Dutch politician and former ice hockey player (born 1960)

Henricus Adrianus Josephus "Hans" Smolders is a Dutch politician, former professional ice hockey player and entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Jansen</span> Dutch politician (born 1966)

Christiaan Anton Jansen is a Dutch politician for the right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV). He has been serving as State Secretary for Public Transport and the Environment since July 2024, and he previously was a member of the House of Representatives between November 2019 and March 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hülya Kat</span> Dutch politician

Hülya Kat is a Dutch politician, serving as a member of the House of Representatives on behalf of the social liberal party Democrats 66 (D66). She was a member of the Velsen municipal council between 2010 and 2018, when she was elected to the Amsterdam council. Kat won a seat in the House in the 2021 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Meijer (politician)</span> Dutch politician

Paul Meijer is a Dutch politician who was the leader and chairman of the regional Forza! Netherlands party. Since 2021 he has been a member of Belang van Nederland.

References

  1. Meershoek, Patrick (16 November 2020). "Haarlemmermeers Forza!-fractievoorzitter 'leefde op kosten van belastingbetaler'" [Haarlemmermeers Forza!-fraction chairman 'lived at the expense of the taxpayer']. Algemeen Dagblad .
  2. Meershoek, Patrick (13 January 2021). "Oprichter Forza! Haarlemmermeer uit fractie gezet, doet live beklag op Facebook" [Founder Forza! Haarlemmermeer expelled from faction, complaints live on Facebook]. Algemeen Dagblad .
  3. "Kaping Forza" [Hijacking Forza]. Meerradio . 16 April 2021..