Where is great communicator Mark Rutte when you need him?, asks De Pers.

He’s ‘a breath of fresh air’ according to the commentators. Not that it’s much of a compliment after Jan Peter Balkenende but still. Rutte is approachable, and a cheerful sparring partner for the press. But after Greece and events in Oslo, his image is starting to look a little tarnished.
Rutte is under increasing pressure from a growing number of opposition members clamouring for a prime ministerial comment on Wilders’ recent statements. Yesterday GroenLinks and the Christen Unie joined D66’s Alexander Pechtold in a call for a reaction to Wilders’ ’discriminatory rhetoric’ in De Telegraaf. Wilders called mosques ‘palaces of hate’.
Pechtold said: ‘Where is the prime minister? You cannot be politically dependent on this man and not clearly and unequivocally distance yourself from what he is saying.’
Ineke van Gent (GroenLink) agrees ‘wholeheartedly’. ‘Rutte can’t hide forever. Wilders is bent on polarising public opinion’.
Christian Unie leader Arie Slob also blames VVD and CDA for not speaking out against a silent partner who is anything but.
It doesn’t look like a reaction is imminent, however. Mark Verheijen, the first prominent member of the VVD to comment quickly withdrew his words.
Rutte and Verhagen having been silent before where Wilders is concerned. And, to some extent, it is not surprising: at the start of their partnership they agreed to disagree on Islam. They think it’s a religion, Wilders regards it as a ‘totalitarian ideology’. This leaves him free to attack anything to do with Islam, although Rutte, albeit prodded by SP’s Emile Roemer, did distance himself from the term ‘Islamic voting fodder’.
When a debate is getting this heated, people are looking to the prime minister. Van Gent: ‘He is after all everybody’s prime minister’. He may be on holiday but he could make time to comment.’
Rutte was lucky not having to leave his beach lounger over the 50bn Greek aid blunder. The left (minus the SP) doesn’t really want a debate because it doesn’t object to the aid package. But the blunder did cause annoyance. The cabinet needed the opposition because Wilders is against any aid to Greece and then ‘mislays’ 50bn.
Maybe Rutte was tired that day in Brussels. He should be rested enough by now to issue a statement. He will smile and not mince words. Or will he?
This is an unofficial translation.