Shouldn’t you take action yourself?
‘Yes. I’d check it with Baudet. I do that from time to time: “There is some story about you, is that right?”
And then he denies?
Yes, he has stated regularly that these are not his ideas. Not only against me, but also in the Chamber. The FvD Election Manifesto will be published soon, if it contained anything fascist, Nazi or anti-Semitic, then I would cancel my membership. ‘
The complaints are very specific. You would have replied that it was ‘silliness’, fueled by a ‘few bottles of wine’.
‘There is quite a lot of discussion among PhD students and there are sometimes complaints. I will then investigate. Great to have a conversation about that. I am a listening ear, but do ask Baudet about his side of the story.
‘I therefore want to arrange a meeting between the complainant and Baudet. Then I sometimes get the response that it must remain confidential, so that is not possible. That is pure performance. I don’t wave things away, as stated in the article. These are private conversations. Sometimes unsavory things happen, discussions that go wild. But if I am not there myself, then in principle I will not get in between. ‘
The complainant, who did not feel he was being taken seriously, emailed you: “I am shocked because you are not shocked.” You didn’t think further research was necessary, did you?
‘In what sense?’
When it comes to such serious allegations, just asking Baudet if it’s not right is enough, is it?
‘If someone denies, it is the end of my investigation for me. If I then hear from the complainant that there are more people with complaints, they must report to me. If they don’t, I’m not going to call them myself. I’m not going to get the rumor machine going. You can’t use me as an instrument to smear others. ‘
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