Dutch government backs burqa ban
Anti-Islam MP wants to tax Muslim head scarves
The Netherlands will ban the burqa, anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders said yesterday following the announcement of a pact to form a minority coalition government backed by his party.
“There will also be a burqa ban,” Mr Wilders told journalists in The Hague, announcing measures agreed on by three parties nego-tiating to form a new government.
The measures, which seek to cut government spending by €18 billion by 2015, should also halve the number of immigrants who enter the Netherlands, the politician said.
“A new wind will blow in the Netherlands,” Mr Wilders said, standing alongside presumed prime minister in waiting Mark Rutte, who leads the pro-business VVD party, and Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) leader Maxime Verhagen – the two parties set to be in government.
Mr Wilders’ PVV will remain outside but will provide the minority cabinet with the majority it needs to pass decisions through Parliament in return for a voice in policy formation.
Negotiations have been ongoing since June 9 elections to reach a balance between Mr Wilders’ socialist policies and strict budget cuts promised by the VVD, which narrowly won the poll with 31 out of 150 parliamentary seats.
In return for supporting austerity measures Mr Wilders, who cam-paigns for a ban on Muslim im-migration, wants to stop the build-ing of new mosques and tax Muslim head scarves, was to get a say in immigration and other policies.
CDA party members, deeply divided over cooperation with Mr Wilders, have yet to approve the new accord which will be debated at a congress tomorrow.
The plan, titled “Freedom and responsibility” proposes cutting the Netherlands’ contribution to the European Union by one billion euros, shaving a further billion euros off development cooperation and 1.2 billion off health care costs, reducing the number of MPs from 150 to 100 and the number of senators from 75 to 50.
The longest chapter of the accord, seven pages of the 46-page document, is devoted to “immigration”.
“Important reforms will be carried out in the Netherlands,” Mr Rutte said in presenting the pact. “We want to give the country back to the working Dutch citizen.”
Maxime Verhagen described the deal as a “very good governing agreement. I am convinced that it is an agreement that every Christian Democrat will be able to identify with.”