Accusations fly between party leaders at final election debate; Wilders seeks connection

The parties lashed out against each other in the final election debate on NOS last night, trying to sway the many undecided voters to their side. After years of being the provoker, Geert Wilders sought connection with the other politicians.

According to the last poll before today’s election, PVV, PvdA-GroenLinks, and the VVD are tied to become the biggest party in the parliamentary election today. NSC is fourth. A massive 63 percent of voters were still undecided about who they would vote for.

At the start of the debate for the larger parties, Wilders said he would like to be a Prime Minister “for all Dutch people. Whatever your faith, background, whatever that is.” The other politicians were still skeptical. VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz said that Wilders had had a “constructive week,” but she doesn’t believe the connecting stance he’s taking. “Unless Mr. Wilders will tear up his election manifesto,” she said, pointing out that the PVV program still wants to ban Islam from the Netherlands and for the Netherlands to leave the EU. Wilders reached out to the VVD leader: “We must work together to solve the Netherlands’ problems.”

The rest of the debate was mostly accusations and arguments, briefly interrupted by a shouting demonstrator. Esther Ouwehand (PvdD) accused the VVD of blaming migrants for everything. “While you have made massive cuts in asylum reception.” Yesilgöz responded that the influx of asylum seekers to the Netherlands is much too high, “and politicians continue to ignore that fact.”

There was a striking clash between Pieter Omtzigt (NSC) and Henri Bontenbal of the CDA - Omtzigt’s former party. Omtzigt opened the attack, accusing the CDA of “hiding its head in the sand” for too long. Bontenbal indignantly said that he did not expect the “hard attack” from Omtzigt, whose “fingerprints” are also on the CDA policy.

SP Marijnissen also had the microphone during this clash. She refrained from interrupting but added that CDA and NSC both lack concrete measures to ensure social security. “Whether it is the old CDA or the new CDA, I notice that they say a lot about social security.” But it’s only words and too few actions,” Marijnissen said.

The D66 and GroenLinks-PvdA clashed over the climate, as they did in several previous debates this campaign. GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans called the climate crisis the “Greatest threat to our social security.” D66 leader Rob Jetten said that, as Climate Minister, he has been “working very hard” for two years and is “disappointed” in Timmermans’ attitude. He accused the GL-PvdA leader of compromising too much. Timmermans responded that compromises are necessary to “build bridges,” and that is how he negotiated the Green Deal as European Commissioner. “Those small differences between us shouldn’t pull us apart, right?” he asked Jetten.

BBB leader Caroline van der Plas said Timmermans doesn’t live in reality. She finds Jetten a little more realistic. According to her, the BBB does not deny the climate problem, but she is tired of the “constant harping” about climate change. She accused Timmermans and Jetten of scaring people.

The discussion about accountability became pretty heated. Yesilgöz reminded Timmermans that he was part of the Rutte II Cabinet. “You were just nodding ‘yes,’” she said about his role in that Cabinet. Timmermans wants to blame the VVD for everything, but he was also part of it. Timmermans responded that he is prepared to take accountability “for everything,” but he sees “no reflection whatsoever” in Yesilgöz.

The migration topic did not yield any surprises. Despite promising to represent people from all faiths and backgrounds, Wilders still wants zero immigration. Jetten accused him of looking for a “foreign scapegoat.”