These are the most striking moments from the Debate of the South

Attack on VVD poverty policy
At the start of the Debate of the South, SP leader Lilian Marijnissen immediately attacked VVD party leader Dilan Yesilgöz for his poverty policy. The cabinet even has a Minister for Poverty Policy, while company profits are high, the socialist sighed. “It’s that sad,” Marijnissen said.

Wilders (PVV) completely agreed with Marijnissen: Yesilgöz has a ‘kilo of butter on her head’, according to PVV leader Geert Wilders. “We are the richest country in the world, but we spend it on the wrong things. Mrs Yesilgöz is to blame for that.”

‘The hate preacher from the right’
Rob Jetten (D66) warned voters about a possible ‘extreme right-wing cabinet’ if the parties in the middle and on the left of the political spectrum do not receive enough votes. That was against the sore leg of Geert Wilders (PVV). “I will not be called extreme right,” he shouted over Jetten’s talk.

A little later, Jetten again lashed out at Wilders and called him the ‘hate preacher from the right’ when it came to the influx of migrants.

In this video you can see the clash between Wilders and Jetten:

Argument about influx of migrants
Whether it concerns asylum seekers, migrant workers who come here or international students: the PVV wants to put a big brake on it. “We are 390,000 houses short and in the meantime we are letting everyone in,” said the PVV leader. “And we also give them priority over our houses. Apart from the nuisance and crime that it entails.”

D66 leader Rob Jetten strongly opposed it: he called it bizarre that the PVV, VVD and BBB voted against the dispersal law, which ensures that refugees are fairly distributed across the Netherlands. To which Wilders responded by saying that there is no need for a distribution law, but for less influx. That statement subsequently elicited the ‘hate preacher from the right’ comment from Jetten. He noted that Brabant receives three times as many refugees as the Randstad, so that dispersal law would make a big difference in this region.

Henri Bontenbal (CDA) also opened the attack on the three parties that voted against the dispersal law. “If you dare to take responsibility, and you have courage, then you also dare to defend the distribution law,” he said. As far as he is concerned, that is part of honest politics. He called it a ‘political trick’ to link the dispersal law to the number of asylum seekers coming to the Netherlands.

‘Nuclear energy is not a magic wand’
The climate crisis was also a subject of debate. Esther Ouwehand (Party for the Animals) strongly opposed nuclear energy. According to her, nuclear energy is seen as a ‘magic wand’ to solve the climate crisis. “We are now going to dismantle that fairy tale,” said the party leader in the Debate of the South. “The climate crisis must be tackled now, there is no time to wait for years for new nuclear power stations,” Ouwehand argued. Nuclear power plants are also far too expensive, she said.

Unanimity about the disappearance of facilities
And a special moment when the party leaders did agree on a subject: too many bus lines, GP clinics and other important facilities are disappearing from the region, because national policy has gone wrong. This was recognized by the party leaders from left to right and they said in the Debate of the South that more investment is needed in regions.

Watch the complete Debate of the South here: