The biggest political threat to shadow Prime Minister Geert Wilders is not called Omtzigt or Timmermans, let alone Yesilgöz, but Faber. It is becoming increasingly clear why Wilders initially preferred PVV MP Gidi Markuszower for the position of asylum minister, who was subsequently killed in the security screening by the AIVD.
Wilders must have realized that Marjolein Faber posed a risk, but he had no other choice. The dire consequences of this are becoming clearer by the day. ‘The strictest asylum policy ever’ that Wilders always so cheerfully announces, must be implemented by someone who claims the description ‘worst minister ever’.
The image that emerges of Faber in the publicity is disastrous. An isolating minister who is at odds with everyone she needs to implement her policy: MPs, civil servants, spokespersons, mayors. In the revealing NRCarticle about Faber this week by Romy van der Poel and Derk Stokmans, MP Queeny Rajkowski of the coalition party VVD said: “I don’t even have her telephone number.” She no longer had contact with Faber’s political assistant: “But he has also disappeared.”
I found it almost funny to note that Faber does not give interviews, even “with The Telegraph she has already canceled several appointments.” That can be compared to an artist refusing an interview with the magazine of his own fan club. Wilders, who has sometimes said that he would like to be editor-in-chief of De Telegraaf, will also be surprised by this.
Wilders has now threatened that he will no longer tolerate opposition in the field of asylum. “My message is that my patience has run out.” He must have been shocked by the PVV’s slight decline in the polls. Boasting about his high position in those polls is a regular part of his bullying behavior towards other parties. He does not want to let that be taken away from him, but can he do that with a minister who finds himself in controversy almost every day with some ridiculous measure, gesture or statement?
Faber has become a liability, a dead weight that can drag him further and further into the abyss of unfavorable polls. But he is condemned to her, because putting aside his own minister is proof of administrative incapacity that he cannot afford. Once again it appears that as party leader he has cultivated too few cadre to be of significance for his country.
For the time being, Wilders will be saved by the uncertainty in the ranks of NSC. The discomfort in NSC about Wilders’ role is almost tangible, but the prospect of a monster defeat in new elections is paralyzing that party. This week, Judith Uitermark, NSC Minister of the Interior, was desperately struggling Eva to escape a moral judgment on Wilders. It was about the massive threats from local politicians. Against that background, what did the minister think of Wilders’ tweet about pro-Palestinian demonstrators: “Out of the country with that scum. And Halsema can come along”?
Uitermark “did not want to measure Wilders”, it was not up to her to “review” him, in short, the minister spoke the language of fear. But those who are afraid will never win against Wilders.