Newly appointed Prime Minister Dick Schopf faced strong criticism following comments made by two cabinet ministers at the opening of the Dutch parliament about a conspiracy theory with neo-Nazi origins.
On Tuesday, Schopf was sworn in amid much fanfare to lead a coalition government dominated by far-right leader Geert Wilders and his anti-immigration Freedom party, the PVV.
Two days later, the new Dutch prime minister’s first debate in the lower house descended into chaos when not only the opposition but also Wilders himself took aim at Skof, his choice for the top job.
Without any preparation whatsoever, experienced civil servant Schoof found himself thrust head-on into the quagmire of Dutch parliamentary politics, facing disruptions and criticism on X (formally known as Twitter).
At the centre of the controversy are two cabinet ministers from Wilders’ party, the PVV: new Asylum and Migration Minister Marjolein Faber and Foreign Trade and Development Support Minister Renate Klever.
The two have spoken in the past about the so-called “omvolking” — the Dutch term for the “great replacement theory,” which holds that Europe’s white population is being deliberately replaced by immigrants.
Although both ministers have “distanced themselves” from the term, they said there had been “worrying demographic developments” in the Netherlands, where the ruling coalition now wants to impose “the strictest immigration policy ever”.
isolated
But Schoof reiterated during the debate: “I repeat, this government is against discrimination, racism and exclusion.”
The Dutch left-wing opposition accused Schoof of tolerating people in his council of ministers who have made “conspiratorial” and “racist” comments – including criticism of the wearing of the burqa.
Wilders himself subsequently attacked Schoof for not defending his ministers from being “branded as racists” and described Schoof’s response as “weak”.
“The prime minister must distance himself immediately,” Wilders said on X. “I will accept nothing less!”
Schof is not affiliated with any party and was appointed by a four-party coalition of the PVV, the liberal VVD, the farmer-friendly BBB and the new centre-right NSC, and appeared isolated from all sides.
Leiden politics professor Ruud Koole told AFP the first debate was a litmus test to see how far the PVV’s junior coalition parties would go to normalise extreme views within Wilders’ party.
“That’s a far cry,” he said.
“Statements made by PVV ministers in the past about a ‘great replacement’ have been suppressed,” Coole said.
“All the three other coalition parties have accepted the ‘Great Replacement’ as a ‘demographic phenomenon’,” he said.
‘Disgusting’
Wilders, who won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last year, continues to lead his party as an MP.
He abandoned his ambition to become Dutch Prime Minister when the other coalition parties threatened to withdraw their positions because of his anti-Islam and Eurosceptic views.
Wilders has said he wants to limit immigration to the Netherlands “as much as possible”, but has called the “great replacement” theory “abhorrent”.
But during the debate he took aim at Schoof, saying he had not defended ministers whom Wilders said the left had described as “racists.”
Wilders’ aggressive stance was immediately criticized by the leaders of the junior coalition partners the VVD and the NSC.
“I was particularly struck by how defensive Wilders was and how frantically and authoritarianly he tried to deny the racism that his party so clearly promotes in various ways,” said Sarah Brake, a sociology professor at the University of Amsterdam.
“It is intellectually and politically unacceptable to continue denying that the ideas at the core of the PVV and this government are not racist, or that it would be enough not to mention the term ‘great replacement’ to make extremist and racist ideas disappear,” he told AFP.
“If Mr Wilders continues to criticise his prime minister, this could lead to Schoof resigning,” said Kool, of Leiden University.
“But we’re not there yet,” he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
