Beautiful, the exclusive interview that anchor Mariëlle Tweebeeke van news hour Friday had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Not just in timing – the war in the Donbas seems to be turning slightly in Russia’s favour. The interview at the headquarters in Kyiv was also beautiful because the conversation revealed another side of the charismatic president. Not half a saint, but a man who experienced his very own Balkenende moment opposite the dyed-in-the-wool Tweebeeke.
It was of course also an irritating question from Tweebeeke: whether Ukraine, given its corrupt reputation, is ready for a possible candidate for membership of the EU. The kind of question from the insurance agent who comes to assess the damage to your house after a devastating fire and economically inquires whether you had paid the premium for the glass insurance. But: a relevant question, given the narrow-minded attitude of the Netherlands with regard to Ukrainian EU membership.
After Zelensky called the cabinet ‘not fair’ – 62 percent of the Dutch population would be in favor of his country’s accession to the EU – and after he accused Prime Minister Rutte of ‘silence about everything we wanted to hear in the matter’. Tweebeeke raised the issue of corruption. Zelensky’s tone changed: ‘Now are you saying that corruption exists in Ukraine, Mariëlle? Have you lived here? Have you ever lived here?’ No, the interviewer replied, as if her living history is relevant. Are you prepared to meet all the conditions?, she continued.
Zelensky: ‘No, no, I didn’t ask you that. Have you lived here? How can you say there is corruption here?’ An unadulterated you-tray that Tweebeeke could have parried with the counter question of how Zelensky from Kyiv knows how to gauge Dutch opinions so accurately. But she pointed to the official reports in which Ukraine’s not so spotless reputation is documented.
“Whose are these official reports coming from?” Zelensky wanted to know.
‘Do you deny that there are problems in this area?’ Tweebeeke persisted. “The Russian Federation claims that we are Nazis, and they base that on those official reports,” Zelensky sneered. Yet it might take decades with that EU membership, Tweebeeke told him. And as if the previous answer wasn’t up to par, Zelensky continued, “How do you know? Tell that, you know everything Marielle.’ And with an exasperated laugh, “Why didn’t you warn me?”
This was the moment when the president was strongly reminiscent of CDA party leader and prime minister Balkenende, who in an election debate in 2010 avoided persistent questions from (then) RTL moderator Tweebeeke with the politically potentially suicidal comment: ‘You look so sweet.’ Same smile. Same slightly condescending, familiar tone, of the male pointing the female in her place. Same fearlessness from Tweebeeke, too.