EU parliament to vote on Freedom Party site

On Thursday afternoon, the European Parliament will vote on a resolution which condemns as discriminatory a Freedom Party website which encourages visitors to submit complaints about Eastern European workers.

The resolution urgently calls on Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his government to condemn the website and distance itself from it.

The resolution was jointly drafted by all major parties in the Strasbourg parliament and an overwhelming majority of MEPs are expected to vote in favour. The authors include the Christian Democratic bloc, of which Dutch junior coalition partner CDA forms part, and the free-market liberals, the bloc which includes the VVD, the senior partner in the coalition government.

It is highly unusual for the European Parliament to draft a resolution which focuses exclusively on one country. The resolution is not binding and Mr Rutte can choose to ignore it.

So far, the Dutch prime minister has refused to comment on the Freedom Party website, arguing that it’s the initiative of a political party rather than his government. However, the prime minister’s refusal to condemn the website is generally seen as the result of his minority government’s dependence on Geert Wilders' Freedom Party for support in parliament.

(gsh/imm)