Sun, Nov 22 2009

Eastern-European workers dominate election debate in The Netherlands

Thu, Jun 04 2009 12:19 CET byRene Beekman 941 Views 1 Comment
Eastern-European workers dominate election debate in The Netherlands

BALLOT: Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom, leaves a voting station after casting his ballot in The Hague on June 4 2009.

Fuelled by the economic crisis and increasing unemployment, the Social Party (SP) and ultra-nationalists of the Partij voor de Vrijheid (Freedom Party, PVV) found each other on the topic of Eastern-European immigrant workers in the last debate before Dutch voters go to the polls on June 4.

"There was a time when you would hear them talk about international solidarity, now they want to close borders," Hans van Baalen of the liberal Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, VVD) said about the SP, as quoted by Dutch daily Trouw.

SP and PVV found each other agreeing that Eastern-European workers were to blame for the hardship native workers are experiencing in finding employment.

PVV MEP-candidate Barry Madlener said the VVD was the reason for the "numerous Romanians" in the country. According to Van Baalen, the free movement of workers contributed to Dutch welfare, saying "I prefer a position in The Netherlands to be filled by a Polish worker, rather than the position disappearing to Poland."

"If we follow the SP and the PVV, we will end up being a tiny nationalist country with only white people," Christian-Democrat Wim van de Camp said.

Madlener clashed with Judith Sargentini from the Greens (GrounLinks) on the topic of Turkey's accession to the EU. Madlener feared mass immigration once Turkey joined the bloc and said he was convinced the "Turks would, like the Poles, take our jobs." According to Sargentini, Turkey should join the bloc when it meets requirements, saying "there will be a lot to enjoy from the Turks."

Comments

Anonymous mary Fri, Jun 05 2009 10:38 CET
Inappropriate comment?

Whatever problems western countries
in the EU face now, the situation
will be far worse if Turkey joins the EU. There would be a far greater clash of culture with them
than with the Poles, Romanians or
Bulgarians.In fact, the EU is too big as it is. The jobs are not so likely to move to another country if it is not part of the EU.

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