The PVV of Geert Wilders holds 20 seats in parliament and Forum for Democracy (FvD) holds two, but there are 150 seats in total in the Tweede Kamer.
“People will die, that’s not good news,” Wilders said during the debate. “The house is on fire, but you don’t use all the water that is available.” He said he wanted to “make sure people’s movements are reasonably limited” to prevent the further spread of the virus.
Forum for Democracy leader Thierry Baudet said the government’s strategy of trying to accomplish group immunity was “highly questionable”. He also said, “It would have been a lot better if we had acted sooner,” and called for a full lockdown similar to what has taken place in Singapore.
Rob Jetten, the leader of the far-left D66 echoed Jaap van Dissel, the director of public health agency RIVM. Van Dissel argued that a lockdown only protects the public if a vaccine is created during that period.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte also shunned the need for a draconian measure. Rutte criticized Wilders and Baudet, claiming that it would not be effective in containing the virus.
According to the Dutch premier the damage has been done already and there is no immediate and real solution to contain the pandemic. “The reality is that a large part of the Dutch people will be infected in the near future,” said Rutte, therefore the most sustainable hypothesis is to attempt herd immunity.
To achieve this goal “it may take months,” said the Dutch leader. He said the government intends to advance herd immunity. He defined it as “the only reasonable way is to use scientific evidence”.
But in addition to risking the safety of Dutch people forced to become guinea pig of themselves, is that by virtue of this “reckless” vision, the Dutch government does not intend to impose the closure of borders, nor for those who enter, but not even for those who leave.
This has caused panic elsewhere. “It is an unacceptable choice” noted Belgium, which has been forced to monitor borders as if it were “at war”.