DUTCH NEWS: Dutch journalists and politicians should stop calling Geert Wilders' political party the PVV a populist party because it has all the hallmarks of an extreme-right wing group, says Renée Danen, the president of the Dutch anti-racist group Nederland Bekent Kleur, in the NRC.
'The PVV wants to close the borders to people who belong to one particular religion, and ban the houses of worship and schools for one population group,' Danen wrote in an article.
'Wilders once told De Limburger newspaper that he wants to 'tear down the mosques'. He told HP/De Tijd newsweekly that 'it is okay for the Netherlands to have Jewish and Christian school but not Islamic schools'. In other words: pure discrimination,' Danen said.
Wilders is also anti-democratic, Danen argues, pointing out that he is the only member of the PVV. 'PVV MPs are not elected by the party but appointed by Wilders himself. The PVV meets behind closed doors in meetings where no one has the right to vote. So the main defining characteristics of an extreme-right party - nationalist, anti-democratic and racist - are all found in the PVV,' Danen says. Economic Policy >>> | Thursday, June 11, 2009
THE WASHINGTON POST: Dutch Far Right MP Snubs EU, Refuses to Take Seat
AMSTERDAM - Dutch anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders won enough preference votes for a seat in the European Parliament, but has refused to take up the position, his party said Thursday.
Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party (PVV), had campaigned on an anti-European Union platform and had said before last week's election he would not take up a seat in the parliament in protest against an institution he said needed change.
He says he objects to EU influence in Dutch matters, arguing the Netherlands should keep a veto right over issues such as immigration laws. He is also against Dutch taxpayer money being paid to the union and Turkey's entry into the bloc.
The Dutch Electoral Council said Wilders had won almost 335,000 preference votes, guaranteeing him a seat. Wilders had not been expected to win a seat because he was listed at number 10 on his party's candidate list.
Barry Madlener, who topped the PVV's candidate list, confirmed Wilders would not take up his seat. "We would miss him here too much," he told news agency ANP. >>> Reuters | Thursday, June 11, 2009
