Barry Madlener geinterviewd door Italiaanse krant

vrijdag, 03 september 2010 15:47

Interview with Barry Madlener, chairman of the PVV party in the European Parliament

"We're a fortress against islam in The Netherlands"

"Elite groups wanted and want an unregulated immigration, while lower-middle class supports us".

The recent PVV proclamations in The Netherlands during the local council and general elections were not welcomed by the Italian press. Not only Italy, but most of the European countries trembled: the PVV actions caused a great and unjustified stir. The positive electoral results of this party hasn't been welcomed by the politically correct observers of the European centre-left, only because this party started concretely facing the problems The Netherlands is getting through. The PVV party, chaired by Mr. Geert Wilders, who got famous because of his opposition towards islam and his criticism to the current immigration policy in The Netherlands, obtained a very good result in the local council elections in March and in the general elections in June. In the national elections the party improved his presence in the government obtaining 24 seats (he previously had 9) and became the third political force in The Netherlands. Should these results really be unwelcomed by the international public opinion till the point to be scared for it? We discussed it with Barry Madlener, 41 years old, chair of the PVV delegation in the European Parliament.

Honourable Mr. Madlener what about the very good result of the last elections? Was this success linked to a sort of protest vote, as some critics affirmed, or was it due to other factors?

I would say both. Actually politicians never faced the issue of immigration. The elite group decision to integrate minorities never considered the immigration from a general and sufficiently wide point of view. Dutch politicians missed a far-seeing vision and they didn't consider that it would have been harder and harder to maintain the welfare state for so many people. The PVV is the only party facing this problem. But we can also consider these electoral results as a protest vote linked to the crisis of the traditional parties. Another reason of this success can be the stability of our party which is solid and doesn't have internal rifts. We're a new and well-leaded group. That's important to achieve good results.

The press widely dealt with the Dutch elections. As it often happens when the right parties win the elections, the international press had a worried reaction. How do you reply?

We have a lot of contacts with foreign press and we've the impression that the journalists are often badly informed and pretty lazy, because they just copy each other without delving into the issue. If they knew the situation better, they wouldn't write such stupid articles. We need a 'plural' press, different from the current one, where all the journalists write the same articles. Pim Fortuyn was one of the politicians considered as a personification of evil, but he was finally reconsidered by the Dutch press which is improving its capacity of being a pluralistic one.

The Italian Head of State, Giorgio Napolitano, seemed worried when he was talking about your electoral success...

We've been democratically elected. And I think Mr. Napolitano was never worried about the problems we're trying to solve, otherwise he wouldn't make this kind of comments.

The historian Buruma says there's a dissatisfaction of the Dutch society towards immigration, and he believes this is a common feeling, even through the elite groups. What do you think about it?

In the Seventies the first episodes of violence took place in the suburbs. Nonetheless the elite groups lived far away and they were insisting on welcome, integration, etc. They were worried about the environmental issues more than the social ones. The upper class should get informed about what happens in the 'other worlds'. I think the PVV became a great party because it was able to receive the lower middle class requests.

In some observers opinion The Netherlands colonialist past could have helped the transition to a new society, characterised by a positive model of integration. But it didn't happen. Why?

I would rather say that colonialism had a marginal influence on immigration. The general opinion of the left politicians is that the western world owes the developing countries. But the new generations did nothing wrong and they don't have to pay at all. And it's time to realize the mass emigration doesn't help the world at all.

You're a member of the AFET committee of the European Parliament. During a recent debate you said the fact Albania belongs to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (O.I.C) is one of the main obstacles to the European integration process.

The O.I.C. is the organisation joining all the Islamic countries together. According to its statute, the human rights can be limited by the sharia. I think this is enough to resume the huge difference with our culture. This is of course the main reason but we should also talk about crime and corruption because people coming from these countries were often involved.

What's your position on visa liberalisation for the western Balkans countries?

It seems a very convenient action. Convenient for criminals. And nobody talked about the risks this choice would bring to international terrorism.

How does the youth look at the PVV?

They look at us in a good way. Young people seem, by some point of view, smarter than their parents. Young people can even enjoy a freedom of the press more than the old generation.

What would you like to say to the readers of Padania?

I hope there will be the opportunity to cooperate to protect democracy and, at the European level, work together against bureaucracy and a system which wants to dominate the Member states.