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Deputy Prime Minister (yes, she really is) Fleur Agema has issued a new threat to the institutions of the rule of law. “If the state emergency law comes into effect, I would like to see who is brave enough to stop it,” she told the press on Friday. The PVV, for which she works, wants to bypass parliament with state emergency law so that the representatives do not take measures. The comment is extra salient because Agema speaks on behalf of the entire cabinet in her position as minister.
After the cabinet meeting, Agema quickly added that it was not a ‘warning’ or ‘threat’ to the Senate. “I have the utmost respect for the Senate. I’m not one to threaten at all. I did not mean to create the impression that I have no respect for parliament.” She acknowledged that she discussed her statements from earlier that morning with Prime Minister Schoof. She did not explicitly take back her words, but that she ‘meant to say’ other things.
Throughout The Hague and far beyond, it is being noted that the PVV’s wish is contrary to the law and rules of the rule of law. If the government is crazy enough to implement the emergency law illegally, which it can in principle do, the institutions of the rule of law must take action to reverse that decision. Agema wants to reduce that chance with the threat. By saying that it will take courage, she makes it clear that such a protest will have consequences for the institutions involved and perhaps even individuals. In countries that the PVV uses as an example, judges and other protectors of the rule of law are often personally prosecuted.
Just this week, German liberal Moritz Körner made it crystal clear in the European Parliament how much Viktor Orbán, a personal friend of Wilders, is destroying democracy. The Prime Minister of Hungary was in the European Parliament because his country is currently president of the EU.
It is now widely assumed that Wilders is aiming to collapse the cabinet as quickly as possible, now that the polls still predict him to win. The condition is that other parties must be able to be blamed and that Wilders can present themselves as victims as usual.
