PVV calls for Home Affairs minister to be arrested
The PVV thinks that Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations should go to jail. According to parliamentarian Martin Bosma, the newly appointed D66 Minister broke the law during her time as alderman in Amsterdam by saying that the Dutch capital should become a republic if the PVV comes into power, NU.nl reports.
In January of this year, two months before the parliamentary election, Ollongren said that "as far as I am concerned: the arrival of [PVV leader Geert] Wilders as Prime Minister or Minister has never been so close, that is also the case for the establishment of the Republic of Amsterdam."
"This Minister does not belong in Vak-K, this Minister belongs behind bars", Bosma said in a debate on the Home Affairs Ministry's budget on Wednesday. According to him, Ollongren's statement is in violation of an article in the law that carries a sentence of life imprisonment or 30 years behind bars for attempting to separate from the Kingdom. He also said that he will not press charges against her.
According to D66 parliamentarian Kees Verhoeven, the PVV goes too far by calling for a Minister to be imprisoned for 30 years. According to him, Ollongren meant that the "D66 will never cooperate in discrimination and categorically excluding people as the PVV does". He urged Bosma to clarify exactly what he means to do with this harsh statement.
CDA parliamentarian Harry van de Molen wants to know why Bosma did not press charges, adding that it is his duty as citizen to do so if he really thinks Ollongren broke the law. "If you were a man, you'd walk out of the front door and report it to the police", he said, according to the newspaper.
Bosma will not press charges, because he believes nothing will come of it. He will also not submit a motion of no confidence against Ollongren - as Selcuc Ozturk suggested he do after the criticism - because the PVV already filed such a motion against the Minister due to her dual nationality. "You must not make a habit of it", he said, according to NU.nl.
A similar statement made by D66 alderman in Amsterdam Simone Kukenheim in February, resulted in PVV leader Geert Wilders photoshopping D66 leader Alexander Pechtold's face into a photo of what he called "Hamas-terrorists" protesting.