Left-wing leader Timmermans to file motion of no confidence against PVV Ministers

GroenLinks-PvdA leader will file a motion of no confidence against PVV Ministers Marjolein Faber (Migration and Asylum) and Reinette Klever (Foreign Trade and Development Aid) on Thursday. He can not stand by and let people who promoted the racist repopulation theory in the past run the country. He would file a motion of no confidence against the entire Cabinet but expects that would not get majority support, Timmermans said in the first parliamentary debate with the Schoof I Cabinet on Wednesday, NU.nl reports.

Klever and Faber have received plenty of criticism about past statements since their nominations to become Ministers. Faber once used “repopulation” as an argument in a debate in the Senate. Klever also used the term in the past, although she now denies it.

Faber ultimately distanced herself from the repopulation statement during her hearing in parliament but stressed that she still has concerns about “demographic changes.” At the time, GL-PvdA MP Kati Piri responded: “The worrying demographic development has become a euphemism for the racist population theory.”

Timmermans said that, for the first time, a party with “extreme right-wing ideas” is ruling the Netherlands. “These are people who propagate racist conspiracy theories. They attack journalists, judges, and scientists. They say that Muslims and refugees spread diseases, dehumanize them, and make them suspicious,” the left-wing leader said.

PVV leader Geert Wilders was immediately outraged. “Where do you get the nerve today to label our people racist? That is quite something,” the far-right politician said. “Repopulation is indeed a term that some have used. But we have said that we should not have done that and that we will not do it anymore.” Like Faber, he added, “We are concerned about the influence of asylum migration and demography.”

Timmermans responded by repeating the statements made by the now PVV Ministers. “I find it racist and will continue to emphasize that,” he said.

He accused the VVD and NSC of driving a “Trojan horse” carrying the PVV into the democratic constitutional state. “Wilders put it this way: ‘The Netherlands will be ours again.’ And with that, he also implicitly says: ‘The Netherlands does not belong to all of us.’” Wilders has been singing the same false song for over 20 years, Timmermans said. He is not convinced that the far-right PVV leader can really distance himself from the radical positions he expressed so often in the past. “Regularly, his true nature becomes too powerful for him, and he sings the same false notes.”

Timmermans also said that the Schoof I Cabinet is giving people false hope with the plans in their coalition agreement. The asylum plans alone are “legally not feasible,” he said. “If you preach hope, for God’s sake, don’t let it be false hope,” Timmermans said. “If you want courage, have the courage to tell an honest story. If you want to be proud, be proud of what you can do for someone else.” He chose those terms based on the title of the coalition agreement - Hope, courage, and pride.

Timmermans said the new Cabinet is focused only on the here and now and is not doing enough to tackle the major challenges. The government only talks about financial soundness when it looks to the future, and that’s not enough. He wants “coming generations to look back with pride at how we leave the country and planet behind.”