Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-13-Speech-2-440-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20120313.20.2-440-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, my group has nothing but contempt for Mr Wilders’s initiative. We made that clear straight away. It is really unacceptable and it is a disgrace that something like this is still possible today in the 21st century.
However, that initiative did not just come out of nowhere. That initiative was no accident. The actual reason for this initiative by Mr Wilders’s party lies in the sudden collapse in his party’s support in the opinion polls in early January and a subsequent loss of seven seats. It was, indeed, the first time that this had ever happened to Mr Wilders’s party. The reason why that happened is quite simple. Mr Wilders was simply unable to stop carping at people. He heaped criticism on Queen Beatrix for wearing a headscarf during a state visit to Oman. He started attacking her and Wilders’s criticism of their queen did not go down very well with the Dutch, and rightly so.
And, so, what did Mr Wilders do? He immediately tried another tack with another issue. This time, the target was not the Royal Family; this time, it was the Eastern Europeans. He opened a complaints website where people could complain about the presence in the Netherlands of Poles, Slovaks, Bulgarians and other Eastern Europeans. That is the real reason why this complaints website was set up.
That said, I totally agree with Mr Daul that the Dutch Government’s silence was, in fact, unacceptable. Whether or not this is a party question, as the Dutch Government claims, is, in fact, irrelevant. I think that we all have the right to know what the Dutch authorities actually think of an initiative established by one of its illustrious citizens somewhere on its territory.
What I can tell you, Mr Daul, is that I have, at any rate, personally tackled Prime Minister Rutte over this.
I hope that you do the same thing with Mr Maxime Verhagen because, as you know, it is not just Mr Rutte’s position; it is a position of the Dutch Government and, thus, of the two parties in power. It would be wise for you, too, to intervene to encourage the Dutch Government to take a position.
Indeed, we also know that what is happening in the Netherlands is not an isolated event at present. There is something more serious going on in Europe. When I see, for example, your candidate for the French Presidency saying that half of all immigrants should leave the country, stigmatising the Muslim community, threatening his European partners and jeopardising the Schengen
I have to tell you that that language and behaviour are unacceptable today, too. As I said this morning, I wonder who really is the far right candidate: him or Ms Le Pen?
In any event, what we must not do, and what we have not done with the resolution, is hide things here. When things happen in the Netherlands, we must denounce them. When things happen in France, we must denounce them. When things happen in Hungary, we must denounce them, too, together!"@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples