Geert Wilders: The first truly European politician?

Geert Wilders: Connecting with many Europeans.

Geert Wilders: Connecting with many Europeans.

I don’t like Geert Wilders, because, whereas I do agree with some of his conclusions, I’m loath to pigeonhole any group of people because of their religion. Muslims are no more all anti-democrats than Irish Catholics are all pedophiles. Yet here we are, discussing a Dutch politician who may be the next prime minister of the Netherlands. Can anyone name any other Dutch politicians? That’s not a reflection on Dutch politicians (I have a bit of a liking for the Democraten 66 party myself) as I doubt many Dutch people could name many Irish politicians short of Gerry Adams either. But Wilders is building a pan-European profile because he is a) a brilliant self publicist, and b) talking about things which, whether you agree or not, connect with many ordinary Europeans. We worried unnecessarily about Declan Ganley’s Libertas. We should be worried about a pan-European Wilders party, because he’s putting out a message than rings true with Europeans far more than anything the EU has managed to communicate in recent times. And, as the Dutch polls are showing, he’s reaching beyond the usual BNP-style scum that you’d expect to vote for him.