Interesting quiz question: Whose are the following quotes? They are about the desirability of cooperation with the PVV. Here they come, not cheating, but after reading the quotes they honestly close their eyes and give a name.
“We have a very complex country where you have to work together. In your behavior as a political party you must lay a basis for cooperation, and the PVV is opposed to others, is negative about others – that is not a basis for cooperation.” And when asked whether Geert Wilders should become prime minister: “I don’t see that. You must be able to collaborate with other parties and countries. There needs to be a completely different person in the Tower than Wilders.”
The quotes are from an interview on January 13, 2017 in the WNL program good morning Netherlands. An interview perhaps with Alexander Pechtold, Jesse Klaver or Lodewijk Asscher?
No, it was with Henk Kamp, now an honorary member of the VVD, then Minister of Economic Affairs in the Rutte II cabinet. As we know, the Netherlands has remained a complex country even after that day in 2017, even more complex due to the recent election results, and the PVV has also spoken very negatively about “others” afterwards and party leader Wilders was convicted in 2020 for insulting a group in 2014. .
You might therefore expect that Henk Kamp still has no interest in collaborating with the negative Geert Wilders and does not even want to think of Wilders as the new Prime Minister of the Netherlands. But anyone who expects that expects too much from Henk Kamp.
You now hear a much more cautious Kamp, a Kamp that says that Wilders needs “a transformation”, but also that there is “an interesting formation going on” and that Wilders is a “skilled” politician.
Kamp does not comment on the extent to which you can trust such a transformation from someone who prides himself on “never taking anything back” and “regretting nothing.” Because there is – the easy clincher – an election result “that must be respected”. Which would mean that if some fascist warmonger achieves an election victory in the next elections, Henk Kamp would be willing to have the respect to take a seat in the cabinet of this winner after “an interesting formation”.
Who will not be surprised by Kamp’s turnaround is Wilders himself. Even before the recent elections, he said with a defiant smile that “everything becomes fluid” once the election results are on the table. That was, it must be said, well seen. Wilders knew his people from The Hague – and certainly with the VVD. He knew that the dislike she publicly professed for him was not very deep. When it came down to it, they felt more political affinity with him than with Jesse Klaver or Frans Timmermans. This already applied to VVD mastodons such as Hans Wiegel and Frits Bolkestein.
Suppose Wilders becomes prime minister – which I don’t think he aspires to – would he want Henk Kamp as minister? I suspect that he invites him for a chat and sighs almost regretfully at the end: “Henk, sorry, I appreciate that you too became liquid, but I have received so many complaints about you as a minister that I unfortunately…”