SGP leader Chris Stoffer (51) had a full weekend. On Saturday his election congress was and immediately afterwards he drove home in Nunspeet to celebrate his birthday. SGP people never work on Sundays, that day is for God. For example, the political Reformed party, a party for the most strict-in-the-leather confessionals in the Netherlands, has been doing it since its foundation in 1918.
For example, on Monday morning, Stoffer has been given ‘less good than many others’ how The Hague was flooded on Saturday by extreme right-wing groups that demonstrated against ‘cancer AZCs’, with NSB flags, called ‘sieg Heil’, attacked the police and the D66-Partide Office in the city center bogged with Stones. “Terrible violence,” says Stoffer. “I immediately contacted Rob Jetten (D66) that Saturday, to wish him strength. Fortunately there were no people in that office.”
According to Jetten, these people have been taught by Geert Wilders. Do you agree with that?
“No, I don’t think so. We see such violence from all sides, also at universities.”
Stoffer refers to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Dutch universities, where the police had to act in recent years.
“But I think nobody in this house wants to violate any way from any way. And every person is always responsible for his own actions. So also those people who hit that things there short and small.
“But we have to be careful in the Lower House that we do not speak with too big words. We give the example here. That starts small. Last week I had a school visit during the general political reflections and the leader of the Party for the Animals did a terribly ugly cry. [PvdD-leider Esther Ouwehand zei „fucking hell”, red.] That teacher said: ‘I try to neatly raise those children here. Do you behave there? “
So is Wilders responsible for paving?
“I am not going to point to one party, I think that is wider. On the other hand, on the left, I see someone like Frans Timmermans. That is also not the one who says his tone, on all fronts, downgraded. We have to attract all one hundred and fifty. It is a somewhat reformational term but we have to push ourselves a bit.”
It is about right -wing extremism, but you get the left immediately. According to the AIVD, right -wing extremists are more willing to use violence, better organized and want to overthrow the government. Is the SGP too busy with left extremism?
“I immediately distanced themselves from these people in The Hague. Using violence is simply not possible. But that also applies to the left. What you have seen at universities around the pro-palestine meetings, that things are broken down …
“There are groups, and that can have attraction, say: we are going to do it that way. I’m really afraid of that. And that is both from the right flank and from the left flank.”
Is Islam a danger for the Netherlands?
Stoffer is quiet for a moment. “Yes. I think so. It seems to be a kind of Islamic society .. I am very afraid that this will continue much further here in the Netherlands. That is far from my ideal, a society stamped by the Bible. It also touches ordinary life. We have to prevent people from getting stuck.”
The Knel?
“I often walk through the Schilderswijk, all stores are designed with Arabic texts. It seems like it is then. The Dutch no longer have the feeling that we just have that normal Dutch culture. Then people will use this horrible violence. If you speak to them one-on-one, they may not have had it at all. district is taken over by Islam. ”
It seems as if you understand the extreme right -wing protest.
“Not at all, you always have to do it through debate and conversation.”
Has Islam been labeled as a danger polarizing?
“That depends on how you shape it. You can say: I no longer recognize myself in that part of the Netherlands that I live with, you really have to do something with that. That does not mean that you have to shave everyone who is Muslim in one comb.
Many other parties believe that something goes wrong with the SGP. This year no women are allowed on the list. Do you think that’s a shame?
“It’s not so much about what I think.”
You are the political leader of the party, should you not think about it?
“Then you don’t always have to bring your own opinion up. The central administration has made a choice, I support that. If I no longer feel at home at what the main board does, I have to say: guys I get out of the party.”
The discussion about women in the Lower House again flared up this year when the Vlissingen SGP councilor Lilian Janse announced that she wants to go into the Lower House. In an interview in NRC She said they have support from one of the three SGP MPs. The group stopped publicly. Janse accused the party to have abandoned her.
You could have openly supported her.
“That doesn’t help. Of course I think it’s a shame that people feel passed. But sometimes I hear something about the municipal elections. I think you will see that women are high on the list in a number of places.”
You have three daughters, are this about this at the dining table?
Stoffer has to laugh. “Yes, and they also have an opinion. I always like to listen to their arguments. I don’t always want to add them, I think it’s great that they have their own opinion.”
The SGP had the reputation of the constitutional conscience of the Chamber among your predecessor Kees van der Staaij. Do you value that reputation?
“Of course I don’t have Kees’ track record. It came from the Council of State and when he put in the room he went back. We are other people. But we attach just as much value to the rule of law, I speak with Kees regularly. Not every week.”
The SGP agreed in July with the asylum measurement measures law, including a PVV amendment that also makes help to illegal immigrants. It was not clear what that amendment would mean for churches, for example. Stoffer asked the Council of State to give advice on the back, it judged negatively. The cabinet is now repairing the law. CU leader Mirjam Bikker called it a “constitutional mud pool”.
You agreed to the asylum measures law, including amendment. Did you go too fast?
“Not only we, everyone. The entire run -up was not good, it was a messy period, that entire cabinet term. This law treatment had to be done in one day, and does not earn the beauty prize at all, but that must be the entire room. But with that amendment we have really made an estimation error, others have seen that better.”
Have you been dragged into the hurry that the cabinet felt to get asylum legislation through it?
“Yes, because it is also the question of whether we can count on the same majorities after the elections. But it was first laid down by the government with the laws. That is not the way you would like to treat legislation.”
Not ‘everyone’ went too fast. The CDA was against the amendment before the law. And so voted against.
“Yes, but if we had voted against, those laws would have been gone. Then all the effect we wanted is.”
Was it the right choice afterwards to vote for the law, even though you didn’t know what it would mean?
“The moment you have to vote for that law, after the amendment has been adopted, I would do that again. But if I could go further back: the law treatment would have been more extensive in advance.”
The SGP voted against proposals to bring seriously ill Gazan children to the Netherlands for treatment. Why?
“Well, I don’t have to think about that for a long time. It is indicated from the cabinet that more people can be helped by betting in places in countries around it, by putting extra money in it and ensuring that medical help there can be fully offered. The minister dares to take that challenge. The moment the cabinet says,” We are wise to do so we. “
Hospitals have indicated that there is sufficient capacity in the Netherlands. According to Doctors Without Borders, it is not possible to get the care in the region in order for complex cases – such as children with cancer or broken faces.
“In the chair where you are now, doctors without borders have also been sitting, we have had a conversation about that. That does not make it easy either. But in the end I attach to what the minister comes with. It is striking that Doctors without Borders are not talking about other countries where it is at least as poignant. Congo, Yemen, you name it. In the end I weigh it as a whole.”
The ChristenUnie – with whom you often arise – makes a different assessment. Why?
“Perhaps because there is more pressure from their supporters. At our party congress we saw last Saturday that there is discussion about Israel, but it is less hard against each other.”
Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders say they are not understanding where the misconception comes from that there is capacity in the region for children who need complex care. Do you not believe them?
“I really believe what they say. But it is one -sided. We should not think that we can help everyone in this small country.”
Mercy is a Christian value, it is not logical that a Christian party says: we treat those children here?
“I have already indicated: for us the assessment is high. But as long as the signal from the cabinet remains that there is a chance to help more people in the region, we will continue to make this choice.”
There is a chance that if these children come to the Netherlands, they request asylum. Does that play a role?
“No, not necessarily. We always say: the migration balance has to go to the zero. But of course this is not about large numbers.
Some politicians blame you for not interesting the fate of those children. Does that keep you busy?
“It does affect me, I am also a father and I also have children myself. Those Gazan parents are also looking for the best, everyone is looking for the best. So it touches me.”
SeriesInterviews with list leaders
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