The Dutch cabinet has distanced itself from comments made by far-right leader Geert Wilders about Jordan being the “only true” Palestine.

Jordan summoned the Dutch ambassador to explain the social media comments by the PVV leader, which were in reaction to a declaration by the Knesset earlier this week opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan river.

The Jordanian foreign affairs ministry described Wilders’ message as a “racist position that imagines the possibility of resolving the Palestinian issue at Jordan’s expense”.

The statement is also in direct contravention of the Dutch government’s support for a two-state solution to the conflict.

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Foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp, in the cabinet on behalf of the NSC, told Nos radio that Wilders’ position is not that of the cabinet.

“By chance I spoke to the Palestinian prime minister yesterday afternoon and repeated the Netherlands’ support for the two-state solution, an independent, viable Palestinian state next to a safe state of Israel,” he said. “And that does not mean Palestine is Jordan or vice versa.”

Veldkamp said he would reiterate this position to the Jordanian government as well, adding that a large majority of MPs also support the two state solution.

The row marks the first diplomatic dispute facing the new government since it was sworn in at the beginning of this month but is unlikely to be the last.

Wilders made it clear in the debate about the new government’s strategy that his party would ensure the “unadulterated PVV voice” is heard in all policy areas where no cabinet agreement has been reached. “Get used to it,” he told MPs at the time.

A similar situation arose in 2010-2012, when the PVV propped up a VVD CDA government but did not provide ministers. Wilders generated outrage internationally by announcing plans to set up a “Polish hotline” where complaints about Poles and other Eastern Europeans could be lodged.

That too was a difficult issue to explain abroad.

Confusion

“We have a cabinet with cabinet policy,” Veldkamp said. “The prime minister has explained this in parliament. I have repeated this several times in parliament and internationally and I will say it again. The government governs, parliament checks up on it.”

The leaders of the four parties that have formed the new government agreed to remain in parliament rather than take on ministries because there was not enough support for Wilders, as leader of the biggest party, to become prime minister.

MPs in the Netherlands are free to express their own opinions, even if they are not in line with party politics.

Hungary

Wilders is also outspoken in his support for Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, and the government has agreed not to join the boycott of informal meetings during Hungary’s presidency of the EU which runs until the end of the year.

This means justice minister David van Weel, a minister on behalf of the VVD, will attend Monday’s informal EU ministerial meeting in Budapest.