Far-right party PVV has skipped 47% of plenary debates in parliament, data shows

During the past parliamentary year, five parties with at least ten fewer seats than the PVV had higher attendance at plenary debates. This is according to figures from the Centraal Informatiepunt van de Tweede Kamer, which is the lower house of Dutch parliament. PVV members were present at 53 percent of plenary debates in the main chamber.

Numbers provided by the Centraal Informatiepunt show that GroenLinks-PvdA, NSC, VVD, D66, and BBB were present more often at plenary debates. The PVV is frequently criticized for being absent and contributing very little to debates. For example, one PVV member has never submitted a motion, and two others have not done so for at least a year.

Party leader Geert Wilders was criticized on Wednesday during the General Political Debate by Laurens Dassen of Volt, who said that PVV members are never present at important debates. “Just last week, the PVV requested a major debate with much fanfare, yet did not even attend,” Dassen referred to the debate over the issue involving former parliamentary Speaker Khadija Arib. The debate had been requested by Gidi Markuszower of the PVV, but he did not participate in the discussion.

Wilders defended himself by saying that his party was present at 80 percent of committee debates and 92 percent of plenary debates, if the two-minute debates are not counted. According to Wilders, his MPs attended fewer than 35 percent of the two-minute debates.

These are shorter debates where parties can submit motions. The figures show that the PVV was present at 79 percent of the 371 committee debates.

The Centraal Informatiepunt had figures on scheduled debates that parties intended to attend. Whether the parties were actually present, however, cannot be said with certainty.

The data show that the PVV was present at 111 of the 312 scheduled two-minute debates. GroenLinks-PvdA had the highest attendance at these debates, appearing 276 times, followed by NSC at 235.

D66 has nine seats and BBB eight, nearly 30 fewer than the PVV. All these parties, as well as the SP, attended two-minute debates more frequently. The SP has five seats.