Meeting between US white nationalist leader and Dutch Politician of the Year raises eyebrows

FvD leader, and 2017's Dutch politician of the year, Thierry Baudet raised eyebrows by meeting with American racist and nationalist Jared Taylor. Baudet and Taylor spoke for hours in the Amsterdams hotel in October, De Correspondent reported on Wednesday. Baudet acknowledged this meeting, saying that he wanted to delve into the ideas of the far-right American 'alt-right' movement, ANP reports.

Taylor is considered an ideologist in the alt-right - a movement consisting of far-right extremists, supporters of the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood. The group believes in white supremacy. And Taylor believes that the white race is threatened with extinction.

In reaction to De Correspondent reports, Baudet said that it can not be concluded from this meeting that he agrees with Taylor. The FvD said that Baudet and the party find it important to "inform ourselves thoroughly and take in all kinds of visions". Baudet said that he does not accept racist or anti-Semitic ideas. "As a party, Forum voor Democratie wants nothing to do with such ideas", he said.

Research by De Correspondent revealed that Baudet regularly re-tweeted posts by far-right people on Twitter. In the FvD campaign for the parliamentary election in March, Baudet expressed his concerns about the "homeopathic dilution" of the Dutch population with "all the peoples of the world". On Amsterdamse radio he also once said that he wants "Europe to remain dominantly white and cultural as it is now", according to the news wire.