Geert Wilders Wilders discovers Europe.

Geert Wilders Wilders discovers Europe.(Trouw).By Lex Oomkes.Now that the Dutch Prime government has fallen, with elections likely for 12 September, political commentator Les Oomkes argues that Wilders’ railing against Europe might prove fortuitous: leading to Europe as the central theme of the election campaign and a shift in the political balance of power.
In the meantime, however, the odd ray of hope has also been spotted. For instance, in a statement issued on Saturday with a view to explaining his rather curious behaviour during the recent Catshuis negotiations, Mr Geert Wilders claimed that the EU is the root of all evil. He appears to be suggesting that Brussels had put pressure on the minority government to withdraw to the Catshuis in order to negotiate further extensive cost-cutting measures. While Mr Wilders’ statement was the most obvious nonsense, this by no means suggests that it is insignificant. His PVV (Party for Freedom) has declared the EU the ‘ogre’, against which it eagerly looks forward to campaigning during the next few months. Based on the philosophy of PVV, this would appear an entirely logical strategy to pursue. 
The party’s highly peculiar blend of principles – extremely right-wing in its approach to social issues, yet leftist in its defence of the crumbling vestiges of the Dutch welfare state – would appear to have singled out the main threat: Brussels. It is Brussels, for instance, which insists that we abide by agreements on the freedom of movement of employees. And PVV views these employees as a threat to the purely Dutch nature of society in the Netherlands, and therefore also a threat to the welfare state. Mr Wilders appears to have come to the conclusion that his electorate might be more readily mobilised to combat the EU, rather than the envisaged Islamisation of the Netherlands. For some (strange) reason, the future of the Netherlands in Europe has not been the central theme of an election n campaign since the referendum. Mr Wilders now appears determined to force the issue, however, and hopefully he will succeed.Hmmm....."Luctor et Emergo".Read the full story here.