DUTCH PRIME minister Mark Rutte has been challenged to criticise high-profile right-wing leader Geert Wilders for his influence on Norwegian extremist Anders Behring Breivik, whose gun and bomb attacks left 77 people dead.
The demand came last night from three opposition parties – the centre-left D66, the green party, GroenLinks, and the Christian democrat party, Christian Union – as the political debate over Breivik’s admiration for Mr Wilders became increasingly heated.
The most stinging criticism came from the D66 leader, Alexander Pechtold, who noted Mr Rutte’s silence and asked, “Where is the prime minister? Rutte simply cannot continue to get away with saying: ‘Wilders is an ally on some issues and the rest has nothing to do with me’ . . . ”
Mr Wilders’s anti-Islamic Freedom Party (PVV) supports the minority Liberal-Christian Democrat coalition government formed last year with a programme for government that includes a ban on the burqa, a 50 per cent cut in non-western immigration, and tougher powers for the police.
However, the coalition parties have been embarrassed by the fact that Anders Breivik referred favourably to Mr Wilders no fewer than 30 times in his 1,500-page right-wing manifesto – and said the PVV leader was someone he was anxious to meet.
Mr Wilders has already described Breivik as “a lunatic” and has accused “left-wing politicians” of conducting a witch-hunt and demonising him by trying to link him and his political philosophy to the mass killings in Norway.
Wilders referred to the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Job Cohen, whose background is Jewish, as “an Islam-hugger”, and added: “I would say to Cohen and the rest of the left in the Netherlands that it is not my words but your silence about the dangers of Islam which is having the most detrimental impact.”
Mr Wilders’s comments provoked a fierce response from the deputy chairman of the Liberal Party, Mark Verheijen – the first by a senior government party official – who derided him on Twitter: “Oh Poor Geert! Who cares about 77 deaths? We almost forgot that HE, of course, is Breivik’s main victim.” Last night, GroenLinks MP Ineke van Gent joined the debate and said she too was very unhappy with its bitter tone.
Christian Union leader Arie Slob was next, criticising the government’s “silence” and urging “a moment of self-reflection from everyone”. Mr Slob added: “The political climate has become so polarized that normal discussion is no longer possible and everyone is divided into two camps.”
However, despite the politicians’ criticism of Mr Wilders and the PVV, their popularity with the electorate continues to increase.
A new survey by pollsters Maurice de Hond shows that while the Liberals would gain one seat if an election were held today, the PVV would gain four. It suggests that Labour would lose a massive 13 seats.