Exclusive – Geert Wilders Writes: We Should be Worried About Demographic Change, Not Climate Change

The holiday season is not over yet, but it is time for some reflection. Those who have been travelling in Western Europe will undoubtedly have noticed how our continent is rapidly changing.

From Bergen, Norway, to Cork, Ireland, from Salzburg, Austria, to Florence, Italy, from Hamburg, Germany, to Perpignan, France, everywhere the number of djellabas, headscarves, even niqabs, has dramatically risen.

The media talk about heatwaves, but none of them dares to mention the demographic wave. Its effects on our economy (drained), our way of life (diminished), and our well-being (squandered) are profound. And while the heat will pass, the change in population will not.

Across Western Europe, Islamic radicals are increasingly asserting themselves. Women are intimidated. Jews face rising antisemitism. Homosexuals are attacked. Critics of Islam require police protection. Yet Europe’s political class refuses to connect the dots.

Our countries are rapidly Islamizing. Politicians, the media, the police are very keen to show off their “respect” for Islam. Is it respect or submission? In the Netherlands, Islam has already become the largest religion among people under-25. It is realistic to think that by mid-century, Islam will be the largest religion in the land – larger than Christianity.

We are already reaping the bitter harvest of this transformation. The Dutch government, once Israel’s staunchest ally, now takes the lead in advocating sanctions against the Jewish state. Our changing demographics, and its electoral repercussions, have prompted politicians of the left and centre-right to internalise the malevolent lie that there is an Israeli genocide going on in Gaza.

Our streets are taken over by neo-Marxist and Islamic extremists, staging violent demonstrations in favour of Palestinian terrorists and Iranian mullahs. Our traditional religion, our values, our national identity are being replaced. We are becoming strangers in our home, paralyzed by a fear to assert our national interest and back our allies.

While we stand at the precipice of a silent conquest, the ruling establishment keeps singing the praise of cultural and religious diversity. But if we do not halt immigration, we will soon be a mono-cultural society again. No longer Judeo-Christian, but Islamic.

Ten years ago, Frau Merkel inundated Europe with two million immigrants. She has now been awarded the European Order of Merit. This year, Pedro Sánchez followed in her footsteps by declaring a migration amnesty, immediately getting applications from 1.17 million illegals and turning his country into a magnet for migration towards Europe.

Across Europe, voters, beset by a housing crisis, overstretched infrastructure, and rising crime rates, demand that their governments curtail immigration. But do they listen? Whenever Extinction Rebellion (XR) opposes climate change by disrupting traffic, destroying artwork, and damaging property, the authorities prefer to turn a blind eye, but when almost one million European citizens sign a petition advocating an end to non-European immigration, the European Commission refuses to take their initiative into consideration, arguing that it would be contrary to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

By clearly suggesting that one set of activism, though violent, is legitimate and moral, while another, though entirely peaceful, is not, the European elites are celebrating our demise. Nevertheless, we should stop being “open to the world” and urgently start closing our borders. Mass immigration is suffocating our welfare states. It fuels crime, erodes social cohesion, undermines national security, and places Europe’s cultural identity under constant pressure.

The attitude to welcome everyone has failed. What Europe needs now is the courage to become unwelcoming. Illegal migrants must be detained, and returns enforced without delay.

In its 2026 National Security Strategy (NSS), the U.S. government explicitly acknowledged that Europeans are facing “the real and stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” This danger stems from uncontrolled mass immigration, which Vice President JD Vance has called “the most urgent challenge” facing Europe.

The bulk of the immigrants flocking to Europe are from Islamic countries. This influx is reshaping Europe’s Judeo-Christian foundations, to the point where Europe risks no longer remaining European and may become a less reliable ally to the U.S. “We want Europe to remain European,” the NSS says. “Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years.”

We already see this in our inner cities which often feel more Arabic than European. We see it in the growing fear of our Jewish and gay compatriots, and especially our daughters and wives feel the horrible consequences. Sexual violence against women has grown significantly because the number of non-Western immigrants in the country has exploded.

Official Dutch statistics show that men of Syrian origin are 4.4 times more involved in sexual crimes than indigenous Dutch men. Iranian men are 6.6 times more involved, Eritrean men 7.5 times, Iraqi men 8.4 times, Afghani men 10.9 times, and Somali men a staggering 20.3 times.

Despite these facts, the ruling establishment does not want to recognize the truth. They are sacrificing our wives, daughters, granddaughters and sisters on the altar of political correctness. Feminists, the mainstream media and politicians of the left and the centre claim that there is a huge problem with young men in our society. They are eager to depict men in general as sexual predators. The elephant in the room, however, is Islamic immigration.

For decades, Europe’s doors have been left wide open. We were told that diversity is strength. We were told a lie. Now, whenever it is a bit warmer than usual, we are told that climate change is the biggest threat to our civilization. Again, we are told a lie. Indeed, our civilization is on the brink of extinction. Indeed, the time to act is now. Indeed, we are running out of time, and tomorrow will be too late. The real threat is the elephant in the room – the enemy they dare not name. Time to speak up!

And so I will: Our countries are being invaded by Islam – a totalitarian ideology of hatred, violence, intolerance and anti-Semitism. But it is not too late yet. Europe has stopped Islam before, in Poitiers (732), Granada (1492), Lepanto (1571), and Vienna (1683). We can do it again. Close the borders. Start deporting illegals. Begin the forced remigration of criminals.

Geert Wilders MP is leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV) and Vice-President of the Dutch Parliament.