Chamber debate without Baudet about Russian bribery, ‘suspicion harmful’

NOS News•today, 10:01 PM

The House of Representatives wants to know as soon as possible whether and, if so, which Dutch politicians have been bribed by Russia. This became apparent during the parliamentary debate on the issue. As long as this is unknown, suspicion hangs over the political parties and the European elections in June. And that is harmful, the MPs agree.

But naming a name or even saying that no name is known is not possible, said outgoing minister De Jonge. This concerns information from secret services and they decide for themselves what they disclose.

On Thursday, Czech authorities announced that they had exposed a pro-Russian disinformation campaign, in which the Voice of Europe news site played a key role. The AIVD intelligence service had been informed in advance by the Czech security service.

The Czech Republic has not made the names of Dutch people public and is not going to do so “at the moment”, De Jonge said. And the cabinet and the AIVD do not want to say what information they have received.

To the disappointment of various factions, FvD leader Thierry Baudet, known for his outspoken pro-Russian positions, did not participate in the debate. Various parties hinted that the suspicions are precisely about his party.

Baudet thinks this is “fact-free talk about gossip and innuendo”. In a tweet before the debate he denied: “No money has been paid to us, there is no “kompromat”, no extortion, no cash, no crypto, no transfer, there is also no other link between FVD and the Kremlin. .”

PVV leader Geert Wilders also knows that he is being mentioned because of his former close ties with the Putin government and the Russian parliament, despite his statement that this is wrong. He is resigned to the fact that nothing will be made public for the time being. “What we don’t want is to get in the way of the secret services if they possibly want to tackle a corrupt person.”

Wilders reiterated that he has not been bribed and wants clarity:

Wilders: PVV has not received a cent from Russia

The Czech newspaper Denik N has mentioned names based on conversations with anonymous intelligence sources. Politicians from Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, Hungary and the Netherlands are said to have been approached, and some of them are said to have received ‘Russian’ money, including for their campaigns for the June European elections.

The Dutch politicians who recently appeared with interviews on Voice of Europe are Thierry Baudet and the leader for the European elections of Forum for Democracy Flanders, Marcel de Graaff.

It is precisely during these European elections that it must be clear which politician or politicians are involved, says NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt. De Jonge agrees, but cannot say anything now:

MPs and De Jonge have an uncomfortable debate about Russian interference

Various proposals were made to make the rules on financial donations to political parties stricter. But hardly anyone thinks that will help expose this kind of bribery.

The House has little choice but to wait and see what the AIVD will do or has already secretly initiated. If the security service suspects politicians of criminal offences, a criminal investigation can be initiated through the Public Prosecution Service.

The House can also create a new committee to prepare an indictment against a specific politician. That committee must itself have certain hard indications or evidence. Volt proposed to start doing this now, but that is too soon for other parties, now that there are no specific suspicions.