Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders (born in Venlo on the 6th of September, 1963) is a Dutch politician who is best known for his views favoring the restriction of immigration, particularly from non-western countries, and his opposition to Turkish EU membership. In September 2004, he left the right-of-center People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD in Dutch), having been a member since 1989, to form his own political party, the Groep Wilders. This because of a dispute with the VVD in late August 2004, about (among other things) his refusal to share the party's position that EU-accession negotiations must be started with Turkey. Geert Wilders has been in the Tweede Kamer since 1998. His party program is one which revolves around freedom; according to Wilders, the Netherlands have been held hostage by elitist politicians for decades. He claims to want to give it back to the people and in that regard he can be seen as a populist. Sometimes his views are compared to that of the late Pim Fortuyn. So far, few politicians have joined his cause, may be because of the threat of an assassination attempts on Wilders and members of his group. Regardless, in polls released following the assassination of Theo van Gogh, it was estimated that Wilders' party could win 29 (out of 150) seats in the Dutch parliament. With the uproar following the killing of Mr. Van Gogh dying down, this number reduced somewhat. Polls suggest between 5 and 30 seats, out of the 150 in the Tweede Kamer. A few weeks after the assassination, Geert Wilders stayed away from the regular meetings in the parliament for several weeks. Even though a members' presence is not mandatory, it is uncommon not to show up for weeks on end. Geert Wilders did this out of concern for his personal security. Having been assigned a new seating position in the parliamentary meeting hall (one further away from the public observation area), he has once again started to attend meetings.
Wilders receives constant security protection because of threats to his life made by Muslim radicals. On November 10th 2004, two Muslim terrorists were captured after an hourlong siege of a building in The Hague. They were in the possession of three grenades and were planning to kill Geert Wilders as well as Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The terrorists were members of what the Dutch secret service, the AIVD, has termed the Hofstadgroep, a group with connections to al Qaeda. In recent interviews Geert Wilders more than once indicated that the Dutch Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights should be changed or temporarily revoked if necessary to better protect the Dutch people from Muslim extremism. He is in favor of stripping criminals with dual nationality of their Dutch citizenship.
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