AFTER THE HOLLAND ELECTION : "You are a champion"

"What an evening!" Mark Rutte speaks slowly, as if to enjoy each of these words. It's Thursday morning. The Prime Minister has won an election victory, which no one has trusted him. 33 of the 150 seats can be claimed by the head of the legal government in the future parliament. "A feast for democracy," Rutte calls to his supporters. And nobody wants to hear about it, which Rutte has lost about five per cent. There is only one thing: the most successful liberal in Europe could not only keep his challenger Geert Wilders in check, but also beat him. 19 seats accounted for the right-wing populist party PVV - as much as the Christian Democrats and the left-wing "Democrats 66". The fact that Wilders has even increased a good three per cent, goes in the joy of all those under,

"There are not the 30 seats that I was hoping for," Wilders conceded his defeat in the night. "Rutte is not far from me." Wilders was not lost, but was not won.

The Dutch voters spoke and even enriched democracy in Europe with a completely unknown instrument: the Stembusstamper, an electoral steamer. 81 per cent of the 13 million voters took part in the polls. In some places the urns were running, so that one had to actually stumble the already issued ballots to make room for more. The name Mark Rutte had been marked on more than one-fifth note.

The smart Dutch Premier, who is now in the third term, has convinced his people only last weekend. A kind of Erdogan effect, which gave the Prime Minister an eye-catcher, precisely because, after the two Turkish ministers had been kicked out of the country, he also sought an interview with his Turkish colleague, Binali Yildirim.

While the Social Democrats crashed from 25 to almost seven percent, the concentrated power of the Greens exploded. Her top candidate, Jesse Klaver, who presented himself as an attractive "anti-Wilders", can now claim 14 seats in the popular representation with his party colleagues - up to now there were only four.

Europe is celebrating the "second success against populists since the Austrian presidential election", as the European Greens rejoiced. Peter Altmaier, head of the Berlin Federal Chancellery, sent his jubilant call "Netherlands, you are a champion" even in the country language via Twitter across the border. The Chancellor telephoned Rutte.

"This is a vote for Europe and against the extremists", EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday the election. The Luxembourger knows that what has happened on Wednesday in the Netherlands will have to work twice before Brussels really can breathe. In April and May, France chooses, in September the citizens will go to the polls.