PVV skipped a third of parliamentary debates despite having by far the most MP's
Despite being by far the largest party in the Tweede Kamer, the PVV participated little in the daily parliamentary proceedings during the past parliamentary year. Of the larger parties, Geert Wilders’ PVV skipped the most debates. The far-right party also submitted relatively few motions and amendments, NOS reports based on data from the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament.
In the past parliamentary year, there were 786 debates in committee chambers and the main chamber. The PVV skipped 268 of them, despite not lacking in manpower with 37 parliamentarians. The other large parties were much more present. GroenLinks-PvdA (25 seats in parliament) skipped 41 debates, NSC (20 seats) skipped 88, and VVD (24 seats) skipped 115.
Except for the PVV, the general trend this past parliamentary year was that the smaller the party, the fewer debates it attended. That is inevitable, as parties with fewer seats have to be more selective because they don’t have enough MPs to cover everything.
In terms of debate participation, the PVV comes closest to D66, even though the party has only 9 seats in the Tweede Kamer. The BBB (7 seats) and SP (5 seats) attended only slightly fewer debates than the PVV despite their far fewer MPs.
SP leader Jimmy Dijk is very critical of Wilders. He called it “unacceptable” that the largest party skipped crucial debates, including the debates on Ukraine support and minimum wage. Wilders’ party made “big promises” on minimum wage increases, and it is “downright antisocial” that he could not get it together to attend the debate, Dijk said. “Because if you’re not there, you can’t get anything done.”
BBB leader Caroline van der Plas told NOS that parliamentarians do their most important work in the Kamer. “I couldn’t stomach if one of my MPs never participated in anything,” she said. “And yet they still pocketed 144,00 euros every year.” Debates are essential because that’s where policies are made that can change the Netherlands, Van der Plas said. She believes MPs should attend as many debates as they possibly can. “That’s what we were elected for.”
The PVV also did not score well in the number of motions and amendments submitted this past year. A motion typically calls the Cabinet to action, and an amendment changes a law. The PVV submitted 271 motions and 15 amendments, far fewer than the other large parties and even fewer than the SP (543 motions, 134 amendments) and BBB (286 motions, 59 amendments).
Notably, the largest opposition party, GroenLinks-PvdA, topped all three lists, attending the most debates, submitting the most motions (827), and proposing the most amendments (260).
“We take our parliamentary work very seriously,” Jesse Klaver, deputy leader of GroenLinks-PvdA, told NOS. A large party “entails a special responsibility,” and debating is essential for making your voters’ voices heard, he said. Klaver finds the PVV’s participation “quite shocking.”
Wilders and the PVV spokesperson did not respond to the broadcaster’s questions about the far-right party’s relative inactivity.
SP leader Dijk thinks that Wilders is afraid of losing control of his party if he gives his parliamentarians freer rein. “We see a party with one member, one leader. And everyone has to follow suit,” Dijk told NOS. “If you participate in many debates and you don’t have everything under control, you might run the risk of making mistakes.”
BBB leader Van der Plas said she doesn’t know what her former coalition partner was thinking, but did notice that the PVV attended the debates on high-profile issues like asylum and agriculture. “It may be that a choice is made not to participate in other debates that have a lower external profile,” she told the broadcaster.
