THE HAGUE, 03/11/00 - Should Prince Willem-Alexander marry Maxima Zorreguieta, the government should discourage her father from attending the wedding. Centre-left (D66) parliamentary leader Thom de Graaf does not think that he should be categorically refused entry to the Netherlands.

In a radio program, the leader of the smallest coalition party said yesterday that it would be difficult to forbid the former Agriculture Minister of Argentina during the cruel Videla regime from coming to his daughter's wedding. But De Graaf did think, for example, that the government could cautiously suggest to Zorreguieta that he could be kept at home by a 'flu attack.

Nor does D66 insist that Maxima should prove that she is a supporter of democracy before obtaining the required permission from the Lower House to marry. "This is something I take for granted. In the Netherlands, we do not ask anybody for a certificate of good conduct before a wedding," De Graaf declared. Questions fired at Prime Minister Wim Kok about the same subject harvested "no comment".