Merel Ek recently handed out oliebollen to her fellow reporters in The Hague, but is not considering giving one to Geert Wilders. “They were also almost gone and I wanted one myself.”
There is little work for Merel Ek in politics in The Hague during the formation. If she hangs out there in front of Hart van Nederland, it’s mainly a matter of waiting. A lot of waiting. “We are still at the formation area. Very interesting – not. We always have to wait a very long time and then we sit there on benches with a lot of colleagues,” she says in the H&M Podcast.
Wait, wait
You can’t do anything else, says Merel. “Everyone is waiting, waiting, and we are never sure when someone will come out. All parties came by again, again to get to know the new informant. I thought: you know what, I’m going to get twenty oliebollen – near the House of Representatives – there is a very nice oliebollen stall.”
Ten currants and ten plain, she explains. “I take that with me for all my colleagues, photographers, cameramen, reporters. To my surprise, everyone wanted an oliebol. Normally a lot of people say: ‘No, no, thank you’, but everyone wanted an oliebol. Almost all twenty oliebollen were gone, so everyone is just eating their oliebol.”
Powdered sugar
And what happened then? Merel: “Everyone also wanted a lot of icing sugar on it, and suddenly, very unexpectedly, after twenty minutes, Geert Wilders comes outside. So everyone with that icing sugar and that oliebol… Everyone put it down somewhere. On the couch, on the wall… Everyone was also covered in icing sugar.”
It was all terribly unexpected, she continues. “Everyone suddenly thought: oh yes, shit, we now have to ask Geert Wilders serious questions.”
No donut
Hélène Hendriks finds it strange that Merel did not offer oliebol to Geert Wilders. “Then why don’t you give him oliebol?”
Merel: “Well, I think, very honestly… They were almost gone and I wanted one myself, but I don’t think he should just accept food from someone. That’s what I think. At least, I wouldn’t do that so quickly.”
Chocolate letter
In addition, Merel does not feel comfortable treating political leaders like Wilders to food. “I don’t give politicians things anyway. I’m not going to treat politicians to things and I don’t take anything from them either.”
She concludes: “I was once offered a chocolate letter from Mirjam Bikker. They are all very nice, but I don’t like it when you accept things from them.”