Far-right FvD leader Baudet threatens leftwing MP after questions about Russian funding

FvD leader Thierry Baudet threatened parliamentarian Jesse Klaver (GroenLinks-PvdA) twice on Wednesday after a parliamentary debate. Tweede Kamer president Martin Bosma wrote that in a letter to Baudet, asking the far-right politician to report to him on Thursday for a talk. “I cannot tolerate threats - in the plenary chamber of all places.”

After a debate on an FvD bill, Klaver asked Baudet to submit the annual reports of the Forum voor Democratie Foundation, NRC wrote. According to the GroenLinks-PvdA MP, Baudet replied, "I’m not going to do that. And if you ask again, I’ll punch you in the mouth.”

Bosma himself did not witness the threat after the debate, but heard about it from several others. He sees no possibility in the rules of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, to impose sanctions for threats outside debates but believes that “boundaries and standards of decency have been exceeded.”

During the debate, Baudet already clashed with Klaver and Jan Paternotte (D66) when the two MPs asked him about donations to the foundation that is the predecessor of his political party. They confronted Baudet about his pro-Russian positions and wanted to know whether the foundation’s accounts would show that he and his party were paid by Russia. Klaver said that the FvD “engages in a lot of flirting with Russia and people affiliated with the Kremlin.”

Klaver asked Baudet to publish the annual accounts of the Forum voor Democratie Foundation from the period surrounding the 2016 Ukraine referendum. Baudet responded with sexism and vulgarity: “It is said that Mr. Klaver actually has a vagina. Is he willing to make his underpants public?”

Paternotte accused the FvD leader of ties to the Kremlin. Baudet responded: “That accusation is an insult to my honor. That’s why I’m angry. In any other situation, I would punch someone in the mouth if you think that about me,” Baudet said.

Bosma thought that comment from Baudet was rude but could still pass muster. “I rather think he meant it metaphorically in the sense of: you would be very angry with a third person.” As far as he is concerned, that does not apply to threats that Baudet made against Klaver shortly after the debate had been hammered out.

Klaver called it good that Bosma was responding so quickly. “Threats are unacceptable. In a democracy, we resolve differences of opinion with words. The fact that Mr. Baudet felt it necessary to issue a threat in our meeting room, the heart of Dutch democracy, is a low point,” he responded.

On X, Paternotte pointed to a proposal by him and ChristenUnie leader Mirjam Bikker last year to ban threats in the Tweede Kamer. “What you shout in the national assembly hall is not without consequences. It incites people to intimidation. And worse.” In recent years, there has been more commotion in parliament about the coarsening of manners and language use.

The debate was about an initiative bill from FvD to hold an advisory referendum on whether the Netherlands should be a member of the European Union.

Baudet could not immediately be reached by ANP for a response on Wednesday evening. He responded to NRC with a link to an article from 2019, in which Prime Minister Mark Rutte said about rioters on New Year’s Eve that he would “prefer to beat them all up personally,” with a laughing emoji. Baudet said: “It was a joke. I don’t hit women.”