In response to calls from two Polish MEPs (Jacek Saryusz-Wolski and Valentin Bodu) to boycott Dutch goods in retaliation for the PVV website, both Dutch Liberal parliamentary delegations responded with a call for a sense of proportion and to avoid punishing the whole of Dutch society for the views of a xenophobic minority.
ALDE Press release, 24.02.2012
Hans van Baalen (VVD) said: "As you know, I have distanced my self directly from this vulgar PVV website and have called it sigmatizing and polarizing. The same did VVD Group in the House of Representatives in The Netherlands. Together with ALDE Group leader Guy Verhofstadt and D66 colleague Sophie in 't Veld I have issued a clear statement denouncing the website. So you know that VVD is strongly against this PVV website.
There is no doubt about that.
As MP, I have taken the initiative to give the highest Dutch decoration to the late General Sosabowski and the Polish forces which participated in the liberation of the Netherlands in WWII and I was responsible for the VVD programme for co-operation with Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990s and contributed to the positive vote in Dutch Parliament for Polish entry in the EU and that of other Central and Eastern European countries.
To call for a boycot of Dutch products is not only counter productive but is an unfriendly measure which goes against the EU treaties and the spirit of European co-operation.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will speak with EP President Martin Schulz on March 1st. Let us see what they conclude. I would ask you to halt any action against The Netherlands because as MEPs we should not copy populist parties."
D66 members also issued a statement:
"We fully share Polish outrage over the "hotline" proposed by the PVV party, as well as over several other discriminatory and insulting initiatives and statements by prominent Dutch politicians in recent years. Like you, we are deeply dismayed at the silence of the Dutch Prime Minister on the hotline incident. Our party is the staunchest supporter of European integration in the Dutch parliament, and we are deeply concerned at the growing nationalism and xenophobia in theNetherlandsand other European countries. In the Dutch parliament our party has urged the Prime Minister to condemn the PVV initiative in the clearest possible terms.
So we share many of the points you make. Hotlines and other discriminatory initiatives have no place in a united Europe.
However, we do not think a boycot is the best means to achieve the goal. Although we understand people need to vent their indignation, in my opinionEuropehas better means to ensure that our fundamental rights are protected in all EU Member States. The Treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and several pieces of EU legislation allow us to intervene when our shared values are at stake.
However, it is also becoming increasingly clear that enforcement of the existing instruments has been weak. Discrimination, racism and xenophobia, homophobia, restrictions on press freedom and various other violations of fundamental rights still go unpunished. Further instruments are needed for adequate protection of fundamental rights. For example we must put more pressure on Member States to unblock the adoption of the Horizontal Directive against discrimination. Europe also needs a legal instrument to ensure media freedom and pluralism.
The best response to the despicable PVV initiative and the ongoing silence of the Prime Minister is not tit for tat, pitching countries against each other, but to create a true European community of values, by ensuring that our shared values are not only hollow statements, but enforceable rights.
It is the political responsibility of the Dutch government to distance itself from the initiative of the PVV. However, many Dutch people and organisations, among them the Dutch employers federation, have publicly and clearly condemned the PVV hotline. Many Dutch people are just as horrified by it as you are.
Sophie in 't Veld MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy MEP Marietje Schaake MEP TheNetherlands(D66, ALDE)
