MPs stick with Wilders for money: Ex-PVV MP

Former PVV parliamentarian Roland van Vliet says that the current eleven PVV MPs have remained loyal to party leader Geert Wilders strictly for financial reasons. Van Vliet told Elsevier magazine that the loyalty is bought by the comfortable salaries members of parliament receive. “Some have such an expensive apartment, they would go bankrupt without a seat in parliament,” he said.

Van Vliet resigned from the PVV, and his seat in the lower house, amidst Geert Wilders proclamation that the Hague needs fewer Moroccans. Wilders has remained unrepentant despite a heavy backlash across the country, even in his own party. “Laughs and whistles. The PVV had not won the [municipal] elections, but with the fewer Moroccans comments they were in good spirits,” Van Vliet said. He told the magazine he took advantage of the jubilant atmosphere to quietly pack up his personal affects and snuck out of his PVV office. Wilders has continued to make anti-Moroccan statements for several weeks despite a noticeable drop in PVV support. “What comes after the Moroccans?” Van Vliet asks. “Will an audience be riled up with ‘fewer Turks?’ Is the PVV going to say that children with Down Syndrome have to leave primary schools? I did not want to go further down the ladder of conscience.”