THE HAGUE, 04/01/03 - The Christian democrats (CDA) are irritated by the "pile of nonsense" that is being propagated about the campaign debates. The picture portrayed by De Volkskrant newspaper Friday is completely false, campaign team member Jack de Vries said in a statement to the press.

De Volkskrant, known as a Labour (PvdA) sympathizer, suggested CDA leader Jan Peter Balkenende refused a one-to-one debate with PvdA leader Wouter Bos. The daily said Bos unsuccessfully approached Balkenende on 11 and 18 December. TV program NOVA also got nowhere with the CDA campaign team on a request for a two-person debate, and its competitor Network, too, failed to get the CDA leader to sit down with Bos, according to De Volkskrant.

"It is of course campaign season, but that does not mean that people can play around with reality," was De Vries' reaction Friday. "There is no question of blockades. There are scores of debates in which Bos and Balkenende are crossing swords, and an option has also been given to TV program 2Vandaag, so I do not understand all the fuss. "

The debate series got underway Friday evening on commercial station RTL4, with Bos and Balkenende crossing swords along with conservative (VVD) leader Gerrit Zalm and Socialist Party (SP) leader Jan Marijnissen. On 8 January, the four will be in front of the camera again on 2Vandaag, joined by Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) and leftwing Green (GroenLinks) leaders Mat Herben and Femke Halsema. On 12 January, the six leaders will continue their debate on Radio 1, with a repeat performance on TV station Nederland 3 on 21 January, the day before the general elections.

Balkenende, Bos and Zalm will also meet each other on 14 January on Nederland 1, and on 20 January on the Nederland 3 children's news program - along with Marijnissen. On 5 January, Network will host a clash between Marijnissen and Balkenende, on 16 January Balkenende and Bos will feature in debate hosted by NRC Handelsblad newspaper, with Balkenende and Zalm appearing on TV program NOVA on 18 January.