MP's wonder if Markuszower can stay in parliament after failing check for Minister

Opposition parties in the Tweed Kamer want to know whether Gidi Markuszower (PVV) can remain a parliamentarian after failing his background check to become a Minister in the new Cabinet. Markuszower himself said he wanted to stay on as an MP and his reaction suggests that he also doesn’t know exactly what has emerged about him, NOS reports.

Markuszower said it “all feels Kafkaesque,” referring to German author Franz Kafka, who depicted confusing, frightening, and nightmarish situations.

On Thursday, PVV leader Geert Wilders announced on X that he was withdrawing Markuszower’s candidacy to become Minister of Asylum and Migration and Deputy Prime Minister due to the outcome of a “screening.” He provided no further details.

Both the intelligence service AIVD and the Tax Authority screen candidate Ministers and State Secretaries ahead of their appointment. Various media reported that the Dutch-Israeli PVV member failed the AIVD screening.

Opposition parties want some clarity. DENK asked outgoing Minister Hugo de Jonge of Home Affairs to explain what potential threat Markuszower actually poses to the country’s government. “Wilders nominated someone who, according to the security service, may be a danger to the state and therefore cannot be a Minister,” DENK leader Stephan van Baarle said. “Then such a person cannot be a Member of Parliament, can he?”

D66 said that parliamentarians must meet the highest standards. “They hold a higher office than Ministers,” a spokesperson for the party told NOS. SP leader Jimmy Dijk doesn’t understand how Markuszower failed the screening for a Minister but passed the screening for an MP.

GroenLinks-PvdA, PvdD, and Volt are particularly critical of the VVD and NSC’s silence on this matter. “They stand by and watch. Even when it concerns a safety risk. Those who remain silent agree,” Volt leader Laurens Dassen said about the two coalition parties. They didn’t mention the fourth coalition party, BBB.

Wilders has been “making blunder after blunder for six months,” GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans said on X. “And time and again, deafening silence from VVD and NSC. Ashamed? Or is this the new administrative culture?”

Markuszower is not the only Minister candidate causing concerns. Aid organizations are very worried about Wilders’ nomination of Reinette Klever as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Aid. In 2016, she argued to halt all foreign aid and use that money to scrap the healthcare deductible.

“We don’t know Klever well, but what she has said in the past about development aid does not give us hope,” Liana Hoornweg of Partos told NOS. She and Peter Ras of Oxfam Novib hope that Klever will follow the coalition agreement, which includes significant cuts to foreign aid but leaves a budget of 5.5 billion euros. From 2027, that will only be around 2.4 billion euros a year. “We assume that she will implement the agreement. We hold on to that and will monitor it. We will judge the Minister on actions, not on her words from the past,” Hoornweg said.

“There are enormous cuts, but a budget of 5.5 billion euros remains for humanitarian aid,” said Ras. “We count on the PVV Minister to adhere to the agreements made.”

Thea Hillhorst, professor of humanitarian studies at Erasmus University, shares the concerns about Klever’s appointment. “You are putting your credibility at risk internationally if you cut too much in development cooperation,” said Hillhorst. “You cannot say: we want to participate in discussions about things like international trade, defense, and a pandemic. And then refrain from providing aid to the poorest. You will immediately notice this in organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank.”