Farmer–Citizen Movement
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The Farmer–Citizen Movement ( ; BBB) is an agrarian and
right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...
political party in the Netherlands. It is headquartered in
Deventer Deventer (; Sallaans dialect, Sallands: ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Salland historical region of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, ...
,
Overijssel Overijssel (; ; ; ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name comes from the perspective of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, Episcopal principality of Utrecht ...
. The current party leader is founder Caroline van der Plas, who has led it since its creation in 2019.


History

The Farmer–Citizen Movement was founded on 1 November 2019 by agricultural journalist Caroline van der Plas, together with Wim Groot Koerkamp and Henk Vermeer from agricultural marketing firm ReMarkAble, in response to the widespread farmers' protests that had taken place earlier that month. On 17 October 2020, Van der Plas was unanimously chosen as the party's lead candidate. It won one seat at the 2021 general election. The BBB won the 2023 provincial elections, winning the popular vote and receiving the most seats in all twelve provinces. Given that the provincial councils elect the Dutch Senate, the party was predicted to win 17 seats in the 2023 Senate election, the most of any party; it won 16 seats in the election. On 1 September 2023, former JA21 MPs
Nicki Pouw-Verweij Nicki Janna Francisca Pouw-Verweij (born 21 May 1991) is a Dutch politician. She has served as member of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives since March 2021. Pouw-Verweij studied medicine at the Vrije Universit ...
and
Derk Jan Eppink Derk Jan Eppink (born 7 November 1958) is a Dutch journalist, politician in the Netherlands, and former cabinet secretary for European Commissioners Bolkestein (1999–2004) and Kallas (2004–2007). In 2009, he was elected to the Eu ...
and former PVV MP Lilian Helder joined the BBB parliamentary group in the run-up to 2023 parliamentary elections, increasing the BBB's number of seats from one to four. BBB also presented Mona Keijzer as candidate for
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
. The party won seven seats with nearly half a million votes.


Ideology and platform

The BBB is a primarily agrarian and
right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...
political party, that is generally placed on the
centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
, to
right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
of the political spectrum. The party has been variously described as
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
,
centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...
,
Christian-democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...
, and partially
centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...
. While not a
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
party itself, some academics and journalists have argued that it is supported by far-right elements. The BBB shifted further to the right after PVV and JA21 members joined the BBB faction in September 2023. In European politics, the party is regarded as
Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...
. The BBB supports Dutch membership of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
(EU) for trading purposes, but wants to reduce the power of the EU "to a level of how the EEC was once intended" and opposes federalisation of the EU. The party argues that each country and region within the EU should be allowed to maintain its identity and culture without interference. It stated its intention to join the
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
but unlike other EPP parties, BBB did not join the Christian Group in the
Benelux Parliament The Benelux Parliament (officially known as the Benelux Interparliamentary Assembly) is one of the institutions of the Benelux economic union. The Parliament was established by an agreement signed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on 5 N ...
nor does BBB sit in the EPP group in the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...
. On foreign policy, the party also supports Dutch membership of
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
and has called for providing Ukraine with F-16s. On immigration and asylum, the party supports accommodating refugees fleeing wars but prefers they be helped close to the region of where they are from rather than encouraging migration to the Netherlands and intends for most refugees to return home once the conflict is over. It also calls for immigrants to already be employed and financially self-supporting before moving to the Netherlands, and they must learn Dutch, work and pay tax in the Netherlands for at least five years before becoming eligible for permanent residency. The party supports deporting illegal immigrants. The party considers itself to support both
food politics Food politics is a term which encompasses not only food policy and legislation, but all aspects of the production, control, regulation, Food quality, inspection, food distribution, distribution and eating, consumption of commercially grown, and e ...
and
rural development Rural development is the process of improving the quality of life, quality of life and economic well-being of people living in rural areas, often relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas. Often, rural regions have experienced rural povert ...
. It opposes the Rutte government's proposals to mitigate the human impact on the nitrogen cycle following the Nitrogen crisis in the Netherlands. Party leader Caroline van der Plas has stated that the
Party for the Animals The Party for the Animals ( , PvdD) is a List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare. The PvdD was founded in 2002 as a single-issue party for animal ...
and animal rights organization
Wakker Dier Wakker Dier () is a Dutch animal welfare organisation. Its main purpose is putting an end to factory farming. Wakker Dier was founded in 1997 and fused with the organisation ''Lekker Dier'' in 2001, but the name didn't change. Marianne Thieme Mar ...
are two organisations with whom she disagrees with 99% of their viewpoints. She saw the effect of their campaigns and wanted to provide an alternative perspective on social media. In the 2021 general election, the party focused its campaign on issues important to rural and agrarian voters, including pledges for a "Ministry of the Countryside" located at least 100 kilometers from
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, and a removal of the ban on
neonicotinoids Neonicotinoids (sometimes shortened to neonics ) are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine, developed by scientists at Royal Dutch Shell, Shell and Bayer in the 1980s. Neonicotinoids are among the widest-used insecti ...
. The party called for a Right to Agriculture Act, which would allow for farmers to have more say on agricultural expansion matters, in response to local opposition to
pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...
and goat farms over public health, environmental and agricultural concerns.


Election results


House of Representatives


Senate


European Parliament


See also

* Farmers' Party (Netherlands) * List of agrarian parties


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer-Citizen Movement Agrarian parties in Europe Conservative parties in the Netherlands Eurosceptic parties in the Netherlands Political parties established in 2019 2019 establishments in the Netherlands Organisations based in Overijssel Right-wing populism in the Netherlands Right-wing populist parties Parties represented in the European Parliament