Cabinet negotiator spills beans on new government

Monday 12 September 2011

Anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders said during last year's cabinet formation process he is prepared to have his public statements checked by the justice minister in return for a cabinet role, former prime minister Ruud Lubbers says in a new book.

Lubbers had a central role in putting the new government together.

Wilders' PVV has an alliance with the current minority government: it is not officially part of it, but has agreed to support it on economic policy in return for tougher immigration laws.

In the book, De Smaak van de Macht (the taste of power) by Annemarie Gualtherie, Lubbers said he asked Wilders if he would be prepared to show his speeches to the new justice minister.

'If the justice minister is not opposed to me on purely political grounds, but can show that the constitution and international treaties rule out certain things, then I will accept that. Yes, that would be fine,' Lubbers quotes Wilders as saying.

Deputy prime minister

Wilders also told Lubbers he did not really care if the PVV was actually part of government or simply agreed to support it. 'I think it is a really great idea to be deputy prime minister, but on the other hand I know there is much more to it than that,' Wilders said.

Lubbers himself opposed the alliance between the VVD, CDA and PVV.

Media reports on the interview do not state whether Wilders does in practice clear speeches and public statements with justice minister Ivo Opstelten.

© DutchNews.nl

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