Klaver threatened by Baudet: ‘If you ask again, I will punch you in the mouth’

Member of Parliament Jesse Klaver (GroenLinks-PvdA) has been threatened by Thierry Baudet, leader of the Forum for Democracy (FVD). The incident took place after a debate on Wednesday afternoon about an FVD bill. After the debate, Klaver asked Baudet to again send the annual reports of the Forum for Democracy Foundation. “Baudet replied: ‘I’m not going to do that. And if you ask again, I’ll punch you in the mouth,” Klaver said.

Klaver reported the incident to Chamber President Martin Bosma. Bosma and Klaver then started talking. The rules of procedure of the House of Representatives, which contain the rules of conduct, have explicitly prohibited threats since last year. This proposal by D66 and the Christian Union was partly based on a statement by FVD MP Pepijn van Houwelingen, who had threatened with “tribunals” in a debate with D66 member Sjoerd Sjoerdsma.

Klaver: “This is a new step in the total degradation of parliament. I have to post it. In a meeting you are inviolable and you can say anything, but not outside of it. I’ve been working here for a long time, but I’ve never experienced this before.”

When asked for a response, Baudet sends a link to an article from 2019, in which Prime Minister Rutte says about rioters on New Year’s Eve that he would “prefer to beat them all up personally”, and a bursting with laughter emoji. Then he texts: “It was a joke. I don’t hit women.” Martin Bosma responded on Wednesday evening with a letter to Baudet in which he summoned the FVD leader on Thursday morning. In his letter, Bosma writes that the threat has been brought to his attention by others. He writes that “boundaries and standards of decency [zijn] exceeded. It also damages the reputation of the House and politics.”

Debate in a tense atmosphere

The debate on the advisory referendum took place in a tense atmosphere. Baudet collided several times with Klaver and Jan Paternotte (D66). They accuse him that FVD is influenced by Russia and that, in the words of Klaver, FVD “engages in a lot of flirting with Russia and people affiliated with the Kremlin.”

Klaver asked Baudet to make public the annual accounts of the Forum for Democracy Foundation from the period surrounding the 2016 Ukraine referendum. Baudet then said: “It is said that Mr Klaver actually has a vagina. Is he willing to make his underpants public for a moment?”

Baudet said in the debate to Jan Paternotte, when he accused him of ties to the Kremlin: “That accusation is an insult to my honor. That’s why I’m angry. In any other situation you would punch someone in the face if they thought that about me.” Bosma intervened: “Leave that rude thing for a moment.” Bosma did say that he had “not perceived any call to molest others.” Baudet’s words after the debate went further, according to Klaver, because they were directly addressed to him.

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Afterwards, Klaver and Baudet continued to argue about whether the foundation’s annual reports were public. Then, according to Klaver, the threat followed. He first wants to wait for Bosma’s response before filing a report. “But this would not be acceptable in any working environment, including parliament.”

The coarsening of manners in the House of Representatives has been a major concern among Members of the House of Representatives for several years. Often, but not exclusively, reference is made to FVD. MPs often say that rougher manners in the House of Representatives lead to more intense social reactions outside it, such as threats and insults. The proposal by D66 and Christian Union to explicitly ban threats was intended to make it easier to suspend MPs who cross the line. At the time, the FVD was against it, as were the PVV, JA21 and the Van Haga Group.

This article was updated at 8:10 PM with a response from Bosma.

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