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He is not a firebrand and penitential preacher like Geert Wilders, but plays the wise grandfather
On Sunday afternoon, viewers at Buitenhof saw a performance by Gerolf Annemans, member of the European Parliament for the Vlaams Belang, where he belongs to the extreme right-wing Identity and Democracy faction. The Antwerp lawyer Annemans has held numerous positions within his party and is regarded as an ideologue.
That’s what he looks like. Gerolf Annemans seems cheerful. He is not a firebrand and penitent preacher like Geert Wilders, but looks like a wise grandfather who takes the grandchildren on his knee to teach them how life works. He speaks softly and thoughtfully, choosing his words carefully.
Yet the paranoia oozes from it. This became apparent last week at the CPAC conference in Budapest – that slap in the face of every serious conservative – where he was allowed to speak for five minutes. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Annemans argued, a titanic struggle was being waged between the defenders of Western civilization and a colorful but tightly organized coalition of liberals, communists, climate nuts, academics and woke artists. The going was tough, but in the end the forces of Western civilization would prevail. And after the European elections, Ursula von der Leyen will get a one-way ticket home from Brussels. The applause was lackluster because Annemans’ speaking style does not suit large halls.
Buitenhof had invited him to debate with Laurens Dassen, leader of Volt in the House of Representatives. He vigorously defended the importance of a strong European Union while at the same time condemning CPAC as a rallying cry for anti-democrats. Annemans always looked at him with a mixture of disdain and pity. Every now and then he nodded no, as parliamentarians have all learned from their spin doctors. Before he spoke, Annemans sighed for a moment. For heaven’s sake, Grandpa was going to tell me again how it really happened.
And then Annemans started to lie that he was bursting. The European Union was a unitary state that increasingly suffocated and restricted its citizens on the basis of all kinds of ideological nonsense, such as regarding the green deal and which car or house one could own. That extremism must be mitigated. According to Annemans, the European Union is being turned into a tightly organized unitary state by extremists such as Timmermans. A European army was madness, he had heard from Stoltenberg himself. Why would they form an additional army in addition to the NATO troops? There were extremists who advocated a United States of Europe in which the individual countries lost the right to determine their own future. And it was already – Annemans repeated it with a worried expression – a unitary state. That is why, according to Annemans, power had to return from the unelected European Commission to the council of ministers.
Conservatives – he had said before – were people who shouted “whoa” in good time. That now had to happen in Brussels.
It was not easy for Dassen to argue against so much deliberate nonsense because it is inconceivable that Annemans, a lawyer and a member of the European Parliament for many years, does not know what is really going on.
There is no reason to say “ho” because the European Union is not a unitary state. On the contrary. It is a partnership of independent states. That is why the focus of decision-making lies in the Council of the European Union, which consists of ministers from all member states. All EU legislation must be approved by this Council. Unanimity is required for substantive decisions. In other cases, a qualified majority is sufficient. This means: 55% of the ministers who together must represent at least 65% of the total European population. Less important matters can be decided by simple majority.
The President of the Council – currently the Walloon liberal Charles Michel – is also considered the President of Europe. That says enough.
The democratically elected European Parliament plays second fiddle to this Council of Ministers. It deals with bills and the budget of the European Union. Nothing can rarely go ahead without the approval of the Council of National Ministers. The European Commission implements the policy as determined by Parliament and the Council. It may also make its own proposals, but this all remains subject to approval by Parliament and Ministers. Each country may appoint one commissioner.
So there is absolutely no question of a tightly managed unitary state, on the contrary. The European Union is rather a coordinating body whose member states coordinate legislation and regulations. For example, they agreed to aim for budget deficits of a maximum of 3%. In this way, a level playing field for companies can also be achieved within the borders of the Union.
Many such agreements can be traced back to successful lobbies. For example, the much-despised EU rules regarding vacuum cleaners were put forward by the industry itself. The current commotion about smoked sausages, which are no longer allowed to be made with smoke flavorings but really have to be smoked over a fire, is based on misinformation. There is a European Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority – a kind of Food Inspection Service – which determined that six out of eight smoke flavorings used by the industry could possibly cause health damage. That is why a long transition period has been introduced that producers can use to develop absolutely safe flavours. So nothing will change for the time being.
In other words: what Annemans wants has long been achieved. He tells his fairy tales because he thinks he can win votes from simpletons who believe everything that is put under their noses as long as their own prejudices are confirmed. He sells shit with a bow tie. It all means nothing.
For the rest, I am of the opinion that the surcharge scandal should not disappear from public attention, nor should the affair surrounding Groningen natural gas, even though the last well has now been closed.
Listen The Memory Palace, the weekly podcast by Han van der Horst and John Knieriem about politics and history. Now: the energy scandal in the making.
