A Polluted Government

Come January, I have little clue what country I’ll live in. Part of me wants to move back to the Netherlands, part of me wants to stay in Belgium, and part of me wants to go back to Edinburgh. Informing my decision though, is the way that the soon to be formed new Dutch government has decided to pander to Geert Wilders by lurching to the right.

There’s this image of Holland as a nice liberal and laid-back country, with clogs, bicycles, and liberal drugs policy, but just like other chunks of Europe, the far-right has been rising, with unpleasant levels of support for the PVV, culminating in the present unofficial involvement of Wilders in the government. Amongst the inclusions in the new coalition agreement which has been drawn up, are a ban on the burka, and measures to reduce the number of immigrants in the country, alongside a significant reduction in overseas development aid.

So, the lovely country of the Netherlands, with its high quality of life, and what seemed to be a much nicer atmosphere to live in generally, has now got a government polluted by someone as bigoted as to be able to stand up and say “our Western culture is in every aspect better than Islamic culture”. It’s not often that I agree with the European People’s Party, but I’m glad to see that their President has criticised the inclusion of the PVV, even if it is in guarded terms.

Photo: Creative Commons license, roel1943 on Flickr.