Political row over dual nationality of Dutch politician

Political row over dual nationality of Dutch politician

2010-10-17 01:02:51 GMT+7 (ICT)

THE HAGUE (BNO NEWS) -- Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders wants Dutch State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten-Hyllner to relinquish her Swedish nationality.

The row comes just two days after the new cabinet, led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, was installed by Queen Beatrix. The cabinet is controversial because Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) were unable to form a majority coalition and turned to the PVV for support.

Wilders is currently on trial for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims through his speeches and writings in recent years, including writings in which he compared the Koran to Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf. However, prosecutors said on Friday that Wilders should be acquitted of those charges, saying they were not criminal.

On Saturday, news reports emerged that revealed that CDA's Veldhuijzen has both the Dutch and Swedish nationality. Wilders is not in favor of this and in 2007 also protested against two other state secretaries who had dual nationalities.

"A blind man can see that a double nationality also means a double loyalty," Wilders said in 2007. He still has this opinion and on Saturday said he was unaware of Veldhuijzen's dual nationality during the discussions to form the current cabinet.

"I did not know this. I was not informed about this," Wilders said in a statement. "The PVV still shares the opinion that the dual nationality of ministers is extremely undesirable. I will ask the state secretary in question [..] in a motion to relinquish her Swedish nationality."

Both the VVD as well as the CDA, however, said they do not see Veldhuijzen's dual nationality as a problem. "I don't doubt her loyalty to the Netherlands," said Mark Verheijen, Party Chairman of the VVD.

In June's general election, the VVD won a total of 31 seats, making it the largest party. The main opposition party, the Labour Party (PvdA), won 33 seats while the PVV finished third with 24 seats. The CDA won 21 seats in the election, a sharp drop from 41 seats in 2006.

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