Who is still talking about Wilders? Read back how the RTL debate went

It is traditionally an important moment in the campaign: the first television debate with RTL, tonight from 9:30 PM, with four ‘main players’ from The Hague politics. Based on the most recent polls, Geert Wilders (PVV), Frans Timmermans (GroenLinks-PvdA), Henri Bontenbal (CDA) and Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD) were invited by RTL, but Wilders doesn’t come. He feels unsafe because his name has been mentioned in a Belgian terror case and therefore skipped the NOS radio debate on Friday. It is fortunate for D66 leader Rob Jetten, who is now the fifth party to emerge from the polls.

Wilders’ absence overshadows the RTL debate in advance, because other parties would have liked to question the PVV – the leader in the opinion polls with about thirty seats – in the debate. RTL announced on Saturday that the location of the debate, the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam, has been approved by the NCTV, the DKDB that protects Wilders and the police. “At RTL we have taken all measures so that Geert Wilders can participate in the debate,” editor-in-chief Ilse Openneer said.

The safety of politicians threatens to dominate the debate for another reason, because GroenLinks-PvdA leader Timmermans was attacked on a terrace in Amsterdam a few hours before the debate by demonstrators who had participated in an anti-immigration protest. “The preparation for the debate was more exciting than I expected,” Timmermans wrote on X. “Thanks for all the kind messages. The social majority of nice people is bigger and stronger and we will not be intimidated

Timmermans, Bontenbal, Yesilgöz and Jetten will now debate four themes tonight: migration, housing, international and economy. They can also challenge each other to a one-on-one debate on their own topic. It is expected that the calculations from the Central Planning Bureau (CPB) published on Friday will play a major role in the RTL debate.

This calculation shows, among other things, how the parties will pay for the higher defense expenditure required by the increased NATO standard. The choices that the participating parties make are very different: some choose to make significant cuts in healthcare, for example, while other parties (especially GroenLinks) prefer to increase taxes on high incomes and companies.

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