This month saw the 2009 elections for the European Parliament. Between Wednesday the 3rd and Sunday the 7th, the nations of the European Union went out to vote. My country, the Netherlands, voted on Thursday the Fourth of June, the same day Obama made his speech reaching out the Arabic world.
In Europe, however, there was no reaching out to the Arabic world. Nationalists and racists wherecampaigning in a lot of countries and the polls, the polls predicted mayor gains for them. In Brittainit was the BNP, here in the Netherlands it's the PVV, or "Party for Freedom", although the acuricythis name can be questioned. They were predicted to win heavy, with a campaign that was not only anti-europe and anti-immigrant, but specifically a mud-throwing contest at the current governement.
I myself have been a member of the left wing Socialist Party for quite a few years, even though I'm still quite young. But this was the real shock of this elections. The SP has allways been anti-nato, and against the Lisbon-treaty, so it was no surprise that they were Euro-sceptic. But they took it far. They became as blindly anti-europe and threw as much mud as the PVV, and I could even have sworn that some of the remarks made in debates and interviews sounded even very anti-immigrant. It became so bad, that even the campaign-head of the right-wing laisse-faire capitalists VVD said: "When I was young, socialists went on and on about 'International Solidarity', what's suddently happened to that?"
Mr. Van Baalen: He may be a pig, but he was right.
That said, it became clear that I couldn't vote for my own party anymore. (In retrospect I am glad, because I heard they now support a Christian who wants to ban Gay teachers, what has happened to my party?). Instead, I voted on the Greens. They where a bit to much pro-Europe, but when it came to blindly pro and blindly anti, I chose the less of the two evils. I am glad to report that the party went from 2 to 3 seats.
You see, the Netherlands has 25 seats in the EP. With the ratification of a new law, however, this will become 26 seats. Last time both the Christian-Dems (CDA) and the labourparty (PvdA) had 7 seats, the VVD had 4, the greens and the socialist 2, the Lib-Dems 1 and the nationalist didn't compete. This time there were small victories for the Lib-dems and the greens, a small loss for the VVD. The CDA however fell back to 5 seats, and the labourparty fell back to just three seats!
Well, who fills up all this space? Yes, you are correct: the Nationalists. They got four seats, and became the 2nd largest party in the Netherlands.
The problem comes with the 26th seat. You'd think the governement would have regulated how this seat was to be assigned. But they didn't. So now, after the elections, they're debating in parliament who should get the last seat. Basicly, there are two parties competing. We have a Animal Rights Party (PvdD), who won mayorly as well. With 25 seats to split between members, the required votes for a seat is 4%. This party however got 3.9% of the votes. With 26 seats the split, the required votes for one seat would be 3.84% of the votes, meaning democratically the animal-rights-party would get 1 seat. It all seams logical.
Marianne Thieme, Animal Rights Party
Except that the Labour party doesn't agree. They have proposed a system in which only parties that allready have a seat in the 25 can be allocated the 26th seat. Now guess, who would get the 26th seat in that case? No, not the labourparty themselves. The Racistparty. Which would give them five seats, and thus make them as big as the CDA and thus shared the title of biggest party of the Netherlands.
Now what is the logic in a ruling like that, and specifically why would the labour party which is supposed to be on the left side suggest a ruling that would win a seat for an extremely rightwing party over a leftwing party? The worst news is, in all probability the bill has been passed, and seriously, we Dutch people are screwed.
Back in history we were famous for our tollerance. And even though nationalist and racist parties have won big in all of Europe, nowhere as big as in the Netherlands. Right now, Europeans look at us, scratch their heads and wonder why a such a racist and intollerant nation has a place in the union. And you know what, with elections like these?
I feel we deserved our new reputation.
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