THE HAGUE, 07/07/09 - Since his Party for Freedom's (PVV) victory at the European election on 4 June, MP Geert Wilders has been targeted by Labour (PvdA) cabinet members. But Wilders is not impressed by the "water pistol" attacks of a party that feels "morally superior", he counters in an interview with De Volkskrant newspaper.

Home Affairs Minister Guusje ter Horst said last week in Vrij Nederland magazine that she was hoping for "the intellectual elite of the Netherlands to rebel" against Wilders. The PvdA minister would welcome "a counter movement" of "right-minded" people who should make it clear that Wilders is propagating "nonsense".

Other PvdA ministers have also attacked Wilders since the PVV European victory on 4 June. Integration Minister Eberhard van der Laan called the PVV dangerous. He also said that Wilders "generalises and puts forward pseudo-solutions" that he alleged were not judicially possible. European Affairs State Secretary Frans Timmermans characterised the PVV leader as unseemly.

Wilders is not impressed. "I need to wear a bullet-proof vest from time to time, but I will not need it for the water pistols of all these ministers. It is pure panic. Until 4 June, they could write off the results as merely polls". But this is no longer the case.

Ter Horst's claim that Wilders' politics is 'nonsense' and should be rebelled against angers the controversial rightwinger. "I have the facts and a large proportion of the voters on my side. I observe that a prominent member of the cabinet is now advocating rebellion. A rebellion! I should try saying that!"

"The PvdA, the party that always claimed to be close to the people, is the self-designated right-minded elite and the voters are the dumb people against whom this elite should rebel," Wilders continued. "That is an enormous insult to the voters and a stab in the back for all those who have turned away from the PvdA. Now that the party is in a state of collapse, Ter Horst has shown her true face. The elite are becoming more radical, not us."

Ter Horst also said in Vrij Nederland that although Wilders wishes to expel Moroccan criminals, his voters do not realise that this is impossible because they are Dutch. This is rubbish, Wilders claimed. "Thanks to the Moroccan King, these youngsters always have dual nationality."

It is already possible to expel people with dual nationality who commit acts of terrorism from the country. "I just want to expand the scope of this law, so that (...) the rest of the scum can be expelled too. You may consider this an objectionable political choice, or even morally repugnant, but don't give me the judicial objection that it is impossible."

Wilders also countered Timmermans's accusation of 'unseemliness'. "In the PvdA, they keep on playing the hand of moral superiority. While I simply say: my party is a better party than yours. He makes remarks like this to keep the Muslim voters happy, now that he has practically no supporters left. But it is sharia-socialists like him who are responsible for the growth of the multicultural society and now they are kept alive by this same multicultural society. They should be combating the disadvantages: the dire position of women, unbelievers and homosexuals."

According to Wilders, the PVV fills the role that parties like the PvdA attribute to themselves with their claim of being progressive. "We are doing their work. Why are we the largest party (in a poll held) on the website of (gay magazine) Gay Krant? Is anybody thinking? Because homosexuals experience the consequences of Islamisation every day in their neighbourhoods."