D66 wants FVD MP Pepijn van Houwelingen to be suspended as a MP for comparing two ministers with the Nazi regime. That is what D66 party chairman Jan Paternotte says to NRC. This week, he will submit an official complaint to the Integrity Investigation Board, which handles complaints about violations of the code of conduct by MPs. The code states that MPs must refrain from conduct that “seriously affects the authority or dignity of the House”. Paternotte’s appeal is special: it is rare that a Member of Parliament openly says that another Member of Parliament should be suspended.
paternotte called it “devastating” on Sunday that Van Houwelingen shared a photoshopped image of ministers Ernst Kuipers (D66) and Karien van Gennip (CDA) on Twitter on Saturday evening. In the original photo, they are standing together at a flag of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN goals for sustainable development. In the edited photo, the SDG flag has been replaced by the flag of the Nazi regime. Paternotte described the photoshop as “disfigured” and a “new low” with which FVD endangers the security of the ministers. Kuipers and Van Gennip announced ‘to consider further steps’.
Van Houwelingen removed the photoshop late on Sunday evening after the fuss and placed a photo with the communist flag instead “because, after all, the SDG flag is even more related to the hammer and sickle of the communist International than to the Swastika ”, he wrote on Twitter.
Baudet was previously reprimanded
The Integrity Investigation Board, which was established last year, can impose various sanctions on a Member of Parliament if it concludes that the rules of conduct have been violated. Earlier this year, FVD leader Thierry Baudet was reprimanded for refusing to give up his additional positions, including that of director at his commercial publisher THPB Media. The supervisor demanded that Baudet still do this, but the FVD party leader did not. As a result, Baudet has gotten away with not giving up his additional positions for the time being.
Paternotte believes that in Van Houwelingen’s case, the Board should go further than issuing a reprimand. “For most MPs, a reprimand is very intense, but at FVD they don’t care.” The supervisor can also impose a suspension on a Member of Parliament, for example from one week to a maximum of one month. A Member of Parliament may vote, but not participate in debates. Paternotte acknowledges that such a measure is ‘very robust’, but believes that the Commission should give a signal that a limit has been reached by making Nazi comparisons.
Also read: Middle parties no longer choose to encapsulate the extreme right
Riot at General Considerations
FVD leader Baudet caused a major riot during the General Political Reflections last week by calling the English university where D66 leader Sigrid Kaag studied as a training place “for spies”. All members of the cabinet present then left the room demonstratively, after which Chamber President Vera Bergkamp (D66) suspended Baudet for the rest of the meeting after he refused to take back his words. Next Thursday, the House of Representatives will discuss a proposal from Paternotte and ChristenUnie party leader Gert-Jan Segers that will make it easier for the President of the House to intervene if people are threatened in a parliamentary debate.
Paternotte acknowledges that Baudet’s insinuation towards Kaag ‘is different from a direct threat’. Nevertheless, according to Paternotte, the tightening of the Rules of Procedure proposed by him has added value. “By making it explicit that threatening language is illegal, it helps the President of the House to intervene next time.” Paternotte recalls an incident with again FVD member Van Houwelingen, who said to D66 member Sjoerd Sjoerdsma in a debate: “Your time will come, because there will be tribunals.” Van Houwelingen refused to take back his words, while Sjoerdsma received death threats in the days following the incident.
According to Paternotte, the state of affairs shows how important it is that threatening language towards other politicians in the House of Representatives does not go unpunished. “Sjoerdsma received death threats, at Kaag someone was standing at the door with a torch. That has a lot to do with what is being shouted in our parliament.” Pepijn Van Houwelingen was not immediately available for comment.