Wilders shouts asylum; Deserter, Timmermans says: Parties use budget debate to campaign
By lunch break, the first day of the parliamentary debate on the national budget hadn’t really touched on the budget presented by the Schoof I Cabinet on Tuesday. So far, the party leaders have mainly used the microphone to campaign, pushing points from their election programs.
PVV leader Geert Wilders had the microphone for the first two hours, and he clashed with several politicians while hammering on about asylum seekers and the “Islamization” of the Netherlands. GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans accused the far-right leader of being a deserter and causing voters’ low confidence in politics.
Wilders started the debate by repeating his unsubstantiated claim that non-Western minorities are overrepresented in sex crimes. “We are losing our country,” the far-right politician said. “Everyone thinks we should stop the influx and get rid of the criminal scum.”
NSC leader Eddy van Hijum interrupted him by pointing out that Wilders could have achieved that, but decided to collapse the Schoof I Cabinet instead. “Wilders had the opportunity to implement the strict asylum policy ever. But the PVV asylum Minister was only concerned about ribbons and trips to the Efteling amusement park for asylum seekers,” Van Hijum said.
GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans accused Wilders of “promising the heavens” to voters, but delivering nothing and then blaming others for it. “You’re a deserter,” Timmermans said. “The country has been at a standstill for years, and confidence in politics has plummeted. That’s because of the PVV, the largest party in parliament.”
Nothing has come from Wilders’ promises for the strictest asylum policy ever. And the healthcare deductible is still €385 per year, despite the PVV’s promise to scrap it in the previous election, Timmermans said. “You don’t care.”
“We won the elections last year with 2.5 million voters. We have to do something with that, Mr. Timmermans is right about that,” Wilders said. “But then you have to be able to do something and not be obstructed.” The PVV often claimed that the NSC was preventing it from implementing policy. Wilders defended the PVV's decision to collapse the Cabinet after less than a year. “If it doesn’t work out, you have to be honest and go back to the voters.”
Wilders also returned to one of his main political points - the “Islamization” of the Nehterlands. “Do you want to live in a country where Islam is the largest religion? Where women and gay people are more oppressed than they are now?”
Mirjam Bikker of ChristenUnie and Laurens Dassen of Volt clashed with him on this point. Bikker argued that religion fosters compassion and inclusion in societies, without singling out any specific religions. “We must uphold religious freedom,” Bikker said. “And combat intolerance toward certain religions.”
Volt leader Dassen said that Wilders’ “great political friend,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is the most homophobic leader in Europe. “Mr. Wilders shouldn’t pretend to be a defender of gay rights now, with his support of Orbán.”
Wilders said that he doesn’t agree with everything Orbán does and said that he himself would never ban a gay pride parade.
After the lunch break, VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz took the microphone. As one of the last two coalition parties, there’s a chance that the debate will actually be about the budget now. She started by urging the coalition and opposition parties to share responsibility. “We must show that we take our task seriously.”
