Lale Gül is causing unrest within the PVV with the rumor she has spread via Nieuws van de Dag and RTL Tonight, says Thomas van Groningen. “They fear that soon there will no longer be a party.”
RTL Tonight broadcaster Lale Gül has spread the rumor in two television programs that Geert Wilders is quitting as leader of the PVV to work in a political think tank in the United States. It would be a hammer blow for the political party, because it would then cease to exist: after all, leader Wilders is the only member of his party.
Off the record
There are now voices within the PVV that this needs to change, Johan Derksen notes Today Inside. “Don’t you think he is very shocked that there are PVV municipal councilors across the country who are starting to coo about: make it a democratic party, that we can also participate in the discussion and that we will then get rid of this one-man show?”
Political expert Thomas van Groningen responded: “Yes, I have been calling around in the PVV with a few PVV members I know. They all want to go off the record, so they say: ‘You are not going to mention my name in VI, are you?’ ‘No, I’m not going to do that.’”
“I’m not saying that!”
Telegraaf journalist Wierd Duk asks Thomas about his sources. “Out of the faction, Thomas, or in the country?”
Thomas: “Well, in the country and some former faction members. No, no, no, I’m not going to say. The interesting thing is that at first they always supported him with the argument: ‘The fuss about becoming a democratic party should stop, Wilders is our man.’ They always said: ‘It is really not the case that Wilders ruled with an iron fist.’”
He continues: “Now for the first time I hear: ‘No, indeed, Wilders is just the boss there, we actually have nothing to say.’”
Panic by Lale
What else will Thomas hear? “And also: ‘Yes, we are actually a bit shocked by what Lale Gül has been saying in recent days.’ She told Nieuws van de Dag and RTL Tonight that she had several sources around Wilders who claim that he is going to an American think tank.”
Is that correct? “I asked that. No one can confirm that, but it has planted a seed, I notice, that they say: ‘If he leaves, then I will no longer have a political party.'”
‘It’s shaking’
According to Wierd, the PVV faction is not a pleasant group. “It’s shaking there in Geert’s faction. He’s the boss there, nothing happens without him knowing, so if Geert leaves, the whole thing will collapse there. It’s a very strange construct.”
He concludes: “It is only Geert Wilders, it is only about PR and how it comes across to the outside world. They are not really concerned with the content. It is an empty shell and we saw that in the previous cabinet. When delivery had to be delivered, delivery could not be made. It is mainly a lot of rhetoric from Geert, who lives in a bubble.”