Trots op Nederland (TON, short: Trots; English: "Proud of the Netherlands") is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It was founded by

Rita Verdonk Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk (born 18 October 1955) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and later founder of the Proud of the Netherlands (Trots) party and businesswoman. Verdonk attend ...

, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, previously a member of the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(VVD).

History

On 3 April 2008 Verdonk launched the party. A subsequent poll by Maurice De Hond indicated that Trots op Nederland and the Labour Party would be tied for second place with 22 seats each in the Dutch Parliament which counts 150 seats. Verdonk declared that her movement would consist of "sympathizers" and, like the Party for Freedom, would not have a membership structure. However, on 7 July 2009, it was announced that the "movement" would become a Dutch political party. Verdonk stated that she wanted to use the party's own

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pub ...

as a debating platform for citizens. The party was labeled as

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

and

conservative liberal Conservative liberalism or right-liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right-wing of the liberal movement. M. Gallagher, M. Laver and P. Mair, ''Repre ...

by the Dutch newspaper '' NRC Handelsblad''. An opinion poll by Interview-NSS taken in week 42 of 2007 showed that Verdonk's movement would obtain 9.9% of the parliamentary vote, with losses for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, Party for Freedom and the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

. After the party's launch, its popularity has gradually dwindled. Starting from the middle of 2009 polls showed the party winning at most one seat. On 3 March 2010 the party participated for the first time in Dutch municipal elections of 2010. The party had a reasonable showing for a new party capturing nearly fifty seats in thirty different local councils. In Den Helder it was the second largest party. In the Dutch general election of 2010 on 9 June 2010 Verdonk did not receive enough votes to secure a seat in the

. As a result, she decided to drop out of national politics. The party was going to participate in the general election of 2012 but on 9 June 2012

Hero Brinkman Hero Brinkman (born 29 December 1964, in Almelo) is a police officer and former Dutch politician. He was a member of parliament from 30 November 2006 to 19 September 2012, after being elected as the number four on the electoral list for the Part ...

announced that the Onafhankelijke Burger Partij (OBP) was merging with Trots op Nederland to form a new party: the Democratic Political Turning Point. On 19 November 2012 the merger was stopped and Trots op Nederland continued as an

party.

Views and policies

The party described its platform under the acronym ''PRIDE'' which consists of eight main themes: education, integration, regulation, security, immigration, traffic management, social care, and development cooperation. The party stated that it stood for individual freedom and that government policy should serve the citizen and not the other way around. In Verdonk's vision, a small but decisive government works best, which enforces the most necessary laws strictly and justly. That means fewer rules, fewer civil servants, but more entrepreneurship and more room for self-confident citizens. The party also supports stricter measures against crime. Other policies include: * Reforming laws to allow citizens to defend themselves and their private property. * Introduction of jury trial. * The top of the civil service is automatically dismissed if the incumbent minister or alderman leaves. The new director determines who will subsequently be appointed as new employees. * Choice of life imprisonment or voluntary castration of convicted pedophiles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trots op Nederland Eurosceptic parties in the Netherlands Conservative liberal parties Liberal parties in the Netherlands National liberal parties Nationalist parties in the Netherlands Right-wing populism in the Netherlands Right-wing populist parties Political parties established in 2007 2007 establishments in the Netherlands