CEE ambassadors send open protest letter on Dutch anti immigrant website

Dutchman Geert Wilders and his far right PVV party are continuing to cause anger around the EU over their website inviting complaints about Eastern European immigrants. Ambassadors from ten Central and Eastern European states have sent an open letter to the Dutch Parliament urging action against the inflammatory website called www.meldpuntmiddenenoosteuropeanen.nl. The European Commission (EC) has also publicly denounced the site, which solicits anonymous complaints against immigrants on 'nuisances' such as drunkenness, crime and making too much noise.

The open letter is as strongly worded as diplomacy allows and calls on the Dutch politicians and people to “to distance themselves from this deplorable initiative.” Wilders touts the websites popularity as justification for its existence and boasts of more than 30,000 complaints. Commentators, however, suggest that this figure is at best exaggerated and at worst a downright lie. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has been widely criticized for so far refusing to condemn the site, his right of center ruling coalition relies on Wilders' party for support in the Dutch Parliament. EC Vice President Viviane Reding has released a statement saying, “In Europe, we stand for freedom. We stand for an open Continent where citizens can move, work and study wherever they like. The citizens of the 27 EU Member States should feel at home no matter where they decide to move.” She calls the website an affront to EU principles and goes on to urge the Dutch people to protest against the site. According to news reports around 125,000 immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe live in the Netherlands, the majority Polish. Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants still require work permits in the Netherlands, which has blocked the two countries' entry to the Schengen area agreement. Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com