"Undemocratic" to exclude PVV from cabinet, Wilders says
The three largest parties after the election must try to form a cabinet together, according to PVV leader Geert Wilders. Even though the VVD already said that it won't work with the PVV again, they owe it to the voters, Wilders said on the NPO Radio 1 news on Monday.
According to Wilders, it is "undemocratic" of VVD leader and departing Prime Minster Mark Rutte to exclude the PVV. The VVD is currently the largest party in the polls. Wilders' PVV is the largest opposition party.
Before the 2017 parliamentary election, Rutte said that he did not want to work with the PVV because of Wilders' statements about judges and Moroccans. According to Rutte, those comments were at odds with the values in the Netherlands and the rule of law. In mid-February this year, Rutte was asked about working with the PVV and he said: "No, still not." During an election debate last week, Rutte and Wilders again clashed about Wilders' refusal to apologize for his "fewer Moroccan" statements - statements that got him convicted for hate speech.
But according to Wilders, Rutte can't just exclude the PVV. "The voter is the boss and not Mark Rutte," he said on NPO Radio 1. If the voter makes the PVV one of the biggest parties, Wilders thinks Rutte should change his tune. According to Wilders, Rutte is a "power politician" who attaches more value to staying in power than in the interests of the Netherlands.
Wilders also said that the PVV's condition for joining a cabinet is major limits to immigration, specifically immigration from Islamic countries. According to him, immigration costs a lot of money and Islam doesn't belong in the Netherlands. "We will not be in a cabinet which does not indeed ensure that immigration is significantly limited."
