The Weekly Forum - 21 February
24 februari 2025 | Forum for Democracy Intl
When Geert Wilders’ Freedom party (PVV) came first in the Dutch elections at the end of November 2023, many people thought this was a sign that the European establishment was falling apart. Over a year later, there can surely be little doubt that the initial hopes for the new government have been dashed. Forum for Democracy has always adopted a position of constructive opposition to the coalition, of which the PVV is the biggest component. But in a recent exchange with the PVV Minister for Immigration, FVD’s temporary Member of Parliament, Lidewij de Vos, listed all the things which the new government has failed to achieve, especially on immigration which has been Geert Wilder’s main, if not only, campaign issue during his twenty-five years in politics. Tout ça pour ça? as they say in French. We have translated Lidewij’s speech with AI so you can judge for yourself.
Watch Lidewij cross-examine the Immigration Minister here
Meanwhile, the old order has come crashing down across the Atlantic. Trump and his new team seem determined to annoy as many people as possible. Hegseth, Vance and of course Trump himself have announced a 180 degree turn on US policy in Ukraine, which culminated in Trump calling Zelensky ‘a dictator’ on Wednesday. So much for a war to defend democracy. Forum for Democracy has always opposed the war in Ukraine, repeatedly calling it crazy, and MP Ralf Dekker has been on top form pleading for realism in the light of the new US policy. In speeches both in committee and plenary session, Ralf insists that the war has been lost by NATO and that the Netherlands should strike out on its own, leave the Alliance and become neutral.
Read Ralf Dekker’s speech in the committee here
Read Ralf Dekker’s speech in the plenary session here
FVD International’s director John Laughland was interviewed on Kevork Almassian’s ‘Syriana’ this week. Kevork has himself been on ‘The Forum’ a couple of times and his show is well-known for the high quality of its guests and of his analysis. They discussed the winds of change blowing from across the Atlantic and the way that Europe is reacting to them. To put it simply - denial is not just a river in Egypt.
Our guest on The Forum this week failed to show up so the three co-hosts, Peter Lavelle, Jeremy Nell and John Laughland spent the hour discussing the last week in politics, perhaps one of the most spectacular weeks in political history for a generation.