SIGNS OF LIFE IN EUROPE: WILDERS' FREEDOM PARTY MAKES BIG GAINS THE EU ELECTION!

Geert Wilders' Freedom party will win four of the 25 Dutch seats in the parliament, just one behind the country's Christian Democrats.... Exit polls showed late on Thursday that Mr Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) was on course of winning just over 15% of votes in the Netherlands.

... If confirmed, the result is second only to Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrats (CDA), which dropped alsmost 5% to just under 20% of the vote.

The polls showed that the party's governing coalition partner, the PvdA, was the biggest loser - down nearly 10% to about 14% of the Dutch vote.

"We dare to talk about sensitive subjects like Islamisation and we use plain and simple words that the voter can understand," Mr Wilders has said.

Mr Wilders was refused entry to Britain in February on the grounds that he had sought to incite hatred with a film he made last year that equated Islam with violence and likened the Koran to Mein Kampf.

The controversial politician is also facing prosecution in the Netherlands for making anti-Islamic statements, following a court ruling the previous month.

Despite the charges many Dutch voters seem to like what Mr Wilders is saying, the BBC's Geraldine Coughlan in The Hague reports.

His party was campaigning under the motto "For the Netherlands" and was extremely anti-EU, our correspondent says. Mr Wilders has said he will not take up his seat if elected as an MEP.

Polls show that Euroscepticism among Dutch voters has increased since the last European elections, with EU enlargement and integration the most unpopular issues, our correspondent adds.

WILDERS: KEEPING HOPE ALIVE!