Wilfred Genee swallows his statements about the demands that Mark Rutte would have made for his upcoming visit to the studio of Today Inside. “I need to nuance that a bit more.”
A lot of controversy has arisen about statements made by Wilfred Genee in Today Inside on Wednesday evening. In it, the presenter said that Prime Minister Mark Rutte has made quite a few demands on his visit to the program next Monday. For example, he would not want farmers, Groningen residents and benefit parents in the studio.
Fierce politicians
It caused furious reactions from politicians yesterday. SP leader Lilian Marijnissen thought it unbelievable: “If this is true and you are too cowardly to face the people who have been destroyed by your policies, then you do not deserve to be Prime Minister of our country .”
PVV leader Geert Wilders: “Rutte the professional coward. He sets the demand for his appearance on TV VI: no farmers, no benefit parents, no Groningen residents present. Incredible.”
And Pieter Omtzigt: “In a democratic country we have a prime minister who no longer dares to speak to several large groups of citizens about the consequences of his policy. And he is also absent from debates on this (allowances) or only responds after the elections (Groningen).”
VVD denies
The VVD quickly came up with a denial. Heart of the Netherlands reporter Sam Hagens tweeted: “Inquiries at Today Inside and VVD show: – VVD came with a demand: no other politicians or political interpreters at the bar. – VVD did not want to be surprised by the public because of safety. – Farmers or benefit parents were not discussed in public.”
His colleague Merel Ek understands that Rutte would rather not have an audience. She says in last night’s HLF8: “The VVD also has a bit of a trauma – apart from the fact that the prime minister is of course under serious threat. In 2017, Rutte sat at the table at Jinek & Pauw and then there were also some angry Groningers in the audience.”
Wilfred nuances
Wilfred confirms the VVD’s denial. He came back to it last night Inside today, where Hugo de Jonge was sitting at the table. “Hugo, you didn’t set any conditions for coming here, did you? This is important. I said yesterday that the VVD had done that, but I have to nuance that a bit more.”
He continues: “It came down to the fact that the VVD had said that people are allowed to be present, and that may also be farmers or people from Limburg, etc., but he does not want to be surprised, not even in terms of safety and so on. That he suddenly finds himself in a situation that ehh…”
Colleague René van der Gijp: “Isn’t it also awkward when people from the audience start shouting right away? That doesn’t work either, does it?”
Wilfred: “No, but it is not the case that they have clearly set it so strictly.”
Ruth responds
Rutte himself responded last night, after Today Inside, in the Shownieuws studio. He says: “Today there was a whole story that we had said that no people from Groningen or no farmers or people who have had to deal with the terrible misery of the surcharge scandal are allowed to recover.”
“That’s just not true at all. The neat thing is that they also just said in the broadcast that that was indeed wrong. We said: ‘Preferably no other politicians’, because I’ve been meeting them all week, and clearly too. So: ‘Let’s have a nice conversation around the table.’”