THURSDAY,
28 MARCH 2024 - 07:34
Far-right FvD leader Baudet threatens leftwing MP
after questions about Russian funding
FvD leader
Thierry Baudet threatened parliamentarian Jesse Klaver (GroenLinks-PvdA) twice
on Wednesday after a parliamentary debate. Tweede Kamer president Martin Bosma
wrote that in a letter to Baudet, asking the far-right politician to report to
him on Thursday for a talk. “I cannot tolerate threats - in the plenary chamber
of all places.”
After a
debate on an FvD bill, Klaver asked Baudet to submit the annual reports of the
Forum voor Democratie Foundation, NRC wrote. According to the GroenLinks-PvdA
MP, Baudet replied, "I’m not going to do that. And if you ask again, I’ll
punch you in the mouth.”
Bosma
himself did not witness the threat after the debate, but heard about it from
several others. He sees no possibility in the rules of the Tweede Kamer, the
lower house of the Dutch parliament, to impose sanctions for threats outside
debates but believes that “boundaries and standards of decency have been
exceeded.”
During the
debate, Baudet already clashed with Klaver and Jan Paternotte (D66) when the
two MPs asked him about donations to the foundation that is the predecessor of
his political party. They confronted Baudet about his pro-Russian positions and
wanted to know whether the foundation’s accounts would show that he and his
party were paid by Russia. Klaver said that the FvD “engages in a lot of
flirting with Russia and people affiliated with the Kremlin.”
Klaver
asked Baudet to publish the annual accounts of the Forum voor Democratie
Foundation from the period surrounding the 2016 Ukraine referendum. Baudet
responded with sexism and vulgarity: “It is said that Mr. Klaver actually has a
vagina. Is he willing to make his underpants public?”
Paternotte
accused the FvD leader of ties to the Kremlin. Baudet responded: “That
accusation is an insult to my honor. That’s why I’m angry. In any other
situation, I would punch someone in the mouth if you think that about me,”
Baudet said.
Bosma
thought that comment from Baudet was rude but could still pass muster. “I
rather think he meant it metaphorically in the sense of: you would be very
angry with a third person.” As far as he is concerned, that does not apply to
threats that Baudet made against Klaver shortly after the debate had been
hammered out.
Klaver
called it good that Bosma was responding so quickly. “Threats are unacceptable.
In a democracy, we resolve differences of opinion with words. The fact that Mr.
Baudet felt it necessary to issue a threat in our meeting room, the heart of
Dutch democracy, is a low point,” he responded.
On X,
Paternotte pointed to a proposal by him and ChristenUnie leader Mirjam Bikker
last year to ban threats in the Tweede Kamer. “What you shout in the national
assembly hall is not without consequences. It incites people to intimidation.
And worse.” In recent years, there has been more commotion in parliament about
the coarsening of manners and language use.
The debate
was about an initiative bill from FvD to hold an advisory referendum on whether
the Netherlands should be a member of the European Union.
Baudet
could not immediately be reached by ANP for a response on Wednesday evening. He
responded to NRC with a link to an article from 2019, in which Prime Minister
Mark Rutte said about rioters on New Year’s Eve that he would “prefer to beat
them all up personally,” with a laughing emoji. Baudet said: “It was a joke. I
don’t hit women.”
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