“The Netherlands can no longer cope with the large flow of Ukrainian refugees, the men must return to the front”: Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders, a famous Dutch politician and leader of the Freedom Party, recently made a loud statement. Wilders emphasized that the Netherlands can no longer cope with the flow of refugees from Ukraine, and proposed a radical solution to this problem — to send Ukrainian men of mobilization age back to the front to defend their country. The politician believes that the Netherlands is overburdened and cannot provide adequate support to all those fleeing the war.
Wilders said in a post on the X platform (formerly Twitter):
“The Netherlands can’t handle it anymore. Our country is already full.
Ukrainian men who can help protect and rebuild their Motherland should be sent back to Ukraine. This can be done without extending the European Temporary Protection Directive or ending it earlier.”
A few days earlier, on September 7, 2024, Geert Wilders met with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi. During this meeting, they discussed the Netherlands’ military support for Ukraine, as well as other important issues, including corruption in Ukraine and the Nord Stream project. One of the topics of the dialogue was the presence of Ukrainian men in the Netherlands, who, according to Wilders, should be in Ukraine and not abroad.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Wilders has expressed strong positions regarding Ukrainian refugees and the policy of the European Union as a whole. Back in 2018, he stated that it was the EU, not Russia, that was responsible for the war in Ukraine. He also repeatedly criticized the Dutch government’s decision to provide military aid to Ukraine, stressing that the Netherlands should focus its resources on the country’s internal problems and security.
