Our democracy is to be cherished. More than 17 million people of diverse backgrounds live side by side in freedom in the Netherlands. Our form of society is possible because it is under pinned by the rule of law and rules on how we interact with each other. For example, everybody is free to believe whatever they want, citizens can influence the way our country is governed by exercising their right to vote, and we treat each other with res pect. Our form of society is a great good, but at the same time it requires attention: it doesn’t just happen of its own accord.
Extremists undermine both our form of society and the rule of law, which collectively are referred to as the democratic legal order. Although the government is doing everything it can to counter extremism, extremist ideas will always exist in an open society. Our society and the rule of law in our country are robust and can handle a certain level of threat. However, if extremism is not properly identified, or society is unable to deal with it ef fectively, the threat to our democratic legal order will increase.
Our task is to combat the threat of extremism, whether active or latent, in order to protect what we hold dear. With that in mind, the government hereby presents its inaugural National Extremism Strategy for 2024-2029.
