Geert Wilders has halted his election campaign until further notice, but will he also let the ratings cannon of Today Inside shoot? “They don’t respond to anything at the PVV, so it is unclear.”
Geert Wilders’ election campaign is at a standstill because the PVV leader says he is shocked by a possible threat from Belgium. However, two young people were arrested there and according to the NCTV there is no longer a residual threat. Yet the politician is now using this to cancel all kinds of debates and media appearances.
“Is it tactics?”
Wilfred Genee wonders whether this is not just a tactic. “Is it tactical? There is so much speculation now. I also saw Wouter de Winther in his column that people in The Hague are shouting all the time: ‘Actually he is now working tactically, Wilders. Staying away is much better than being present,'” he says in Today Inside.
Political reporter Merel Ek: “Yes, behind the scenes you hear people say that. They will never say that in front of the scenes.”
Wilfred: “No, you can’t say that, no.”
‘Nice and out of the wind’
Johan thinks that Wilders will seize this very eagerly. “That man has been protected and threatened with attacks for 25 years. He doesn’t worry about three Belgians who also have him on a list, but this turned out very well. He stays out of the wind for a while.”
Wilfred wonders whether Wilders will still come to VI: “You think he will come on Friday to join in the celebration?”
Johan: “He will come here on Friday, because this is the opportunity of a lifetime.”
PVV is silent
The PVV does not want to say anything, according to Merel. “We tried to speak to those spokespeople and call them: ‘Why didn’t you want to do it in the House of Representatives, which RTL had offered?’ That is a very well secured building, where he is of course much more often. They canceled that.”
She continues: “The point is that we obviously cannot see into his head what this does to him. We don’t know how close they came, do we, with that attack.”
Obsession
Johan understands that Wilders has no interest in all those debates. “He now prevents them all from giving in to him. They have an obsession, because in every subject they talk about Wilders.”
A weak snack, René van der Gijp thinks. “But darling, that De Wever (the Belgian Prime Minister who was targeted by the same terrorist cell, ed.) went back to work in the afternoon. He must have known exactly what was going on.”
Wilfred: “The Public Prosecution Service and all security organizations say: ‘There is no threat.’”
‘Complete silence’
Merel thinks it’s a strange situation. “You also try to find out whether he will join us here on Friday, but there is just a communication silence. They do not respond to anything at the PVV, so it is completely unclear.”
Johan concludes: “Isn’t it nice that Wilders does it that way? He had also heard that other parties have practiced with a role play, with a fake Wilders. They think: you better practice a bit, boys, because I’m not coming anyway.”