First election debate with PVV focused mostly on excluding "deserter" Wilders
The SBS election debate last night was the first chance for other party leaders to cross swords with PVV leader Geert Wilders this election campaign, and Frans Timmermans (GL-PvdA), Henri Bontenbal (CDA), and Dilan Yeşilgöz (VVD) did so with glee. They called Wilders a deserter, pointing out that he was two-for-two for collapsing Cabinets the PVV participated in, and accused him of failing to get anything done despite having over a fifth of the seats in parliament.
“Three parties kicking the PVV,” Wilders summarized the SBS debate in which GroenLiks-PvdA, CDA, and VVD all reiterated their refusal to work with the PVV, the largest party in the polls, in an upcoming coalition, NOS reports.
Timmermans said that he had “principled reasons” to avoid the far-right party, including Wilders’ stance on Islam.
Bontenbal said that the Netherlands “yearns” for a stable Cabinet, and the PVV can’t be trusted to see things through. “Wilders may be the best megaphone for discontent, but as a politician, you have to do more.”
Yeşilgöz reiterated that Wilders had again “walked out” of a coalition involving the VVD. “The PVV consists of one man with a Twitter account. Other than that, it’s nothing. He gets nothing done.”
Wilders responded in the expected way. He said he left the Schoof I Cabinet because the other coalition parties never supported his plans. He wanted stricter asylum measures, but they refused, he said.
“If only you could have done something about it. If only you had 37 seats [in parliament],” Yeşilgöz responded to that.
The topics debated last night were housing, migration, and healthcare. There was a long discussion on giving refugees priority for social housing. A woman from the audience, who lives with her adult daughter, asked CDA leader Bontenbal why refugees get priority. The CDA leader responded that he wasn’t “just in favor of priority” and said that this was a “complex” issue. “You can’t just magic them away,” he said.
Taking away municipalities' right to prioritize refugees when allocating scarce social housing means that refugees remain stuck living in overcrowded asylum shelters, and can’t make way for new asylum seekers. It also means that they have to wait even longer before starting to build lives and integrate into the Nehterlands.
GroenLinks-PvdA leader Timmermans agreed that scrapping priority wouldn’t solve this issue. “The only thing we can do is build.”
According to Wilders, “We should only build for the Dutch. We should put the Dutch first.”
On the topic of migration, the other party leaders again accused Wilders of achieving nothing during his past term in office, failing to deliver on the grand promises he made to his voters. They criticized PVV Minister Marjolyn Faber (Asylum and Migration) for not implementing anything of the “strictest asylum policy ever” that the coalition promised when taking office.
Wilders again blamed his coalition partners. His party was obstructed, and that was why no results had been achieved, he said.
The healthcare portion of the debate also focused on an unfulfilled Wilders promise. The PVV leader promised to abolish the healthcare deductible entirely, while the other said that doing so was impossible. Even the presenter weighed in on the matter. “Your own health Minister said: It’s impossible,” Wilfred Genee said, referring to Fleur Agema.
Timmermans also pointed out that the PVV refused to have its election program calculated, so it is unclear how Wilders intended to finance the promises he’s making.
The debate ended with Timmermans, Bontenbal, and Yeşilgöz reiterating that their parties won’t work with the PVV. “Just wait and see how big we get,” Wilders warned, but the other three seemed unfazed.
