The war of words between Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and far-right populist Geert Wilders exploded in a face to face debate on Monday as Wilders called on Rutte to close the Netherlands’ borders.
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“You are being taken hostage by [Turkish President] Erdogan. Close the Dutch borders,” Wilders told his top rival, Rutte.
“What we have to do to protect our borders is not make agreements with people like Mr. Erdogan,” he added, referring to the European Union’s migrant deal with Turkey.
The Dutch prime minister, in turn, mocked Wilders’ election pledges to ban the Quran, asking if he planned to set up a national “Quran police” to go door to door confiscating Islam’s holy book.
Preventing two Turkish cabinet ministers from speaking publicly in Rotterdam was not enough, according to Wilders, who said Rutte should “at least throw the Turkish ambassador and his staff out of the country.”
“That’s a totally fake solution,” Rutte retorted, hitting back at Wilders’ suggestion that the Dutch borders should be shut.
“You want Nexit, you want the Netherlands out of Europe. You know what it will cost… don’t do it,” he warned.
