Angry Greeks recall Wilders’ nasty economic crisis remarks

Greek media reacted negatively on Thursday to the victory of the Dutch far-right PVV party in the recent elections, saying its leader, Geert Wilders, built his career on bashing Greece in a populist way during the economic crisis over 10 years ago.

At the time of Greece’s economic crisis, Wilders firmly opposed granting a bailout to save its economy, instead backing a Grexit from the Eurozone.

Particularly, media reports referred to an incident in June 2011 – when Greece was amid the crisis and had received bailout aid – in which Wilders took a provocative action outside the Greek embassy in The Hague.

The MP Teun van Dijck posed with a placard depicting a thousand drachma banknotes, calling Greece to return to its previous currency before adopting the Euro.

The media also reported that several years later, in 2017, the Dutch far-right leader lashed out against Greeks again, saying they “cheated” and spent money on “ouzo [a traditional drink] and souvlaki” and then asked for loans.

Most headlines described Wilders as “anti-Greek”, noting that he built his political career on criticising the Mediterranean country. Meanwhile, Greek social media was alight with people criticising him and resharing his anti-Greek comments from the past as examples.

Last but not least, the media recalled that Wilders opposed the Netherlands receiving migrants and refugees amid Greece’s worst migration crisis.

(Sarantis Michalopoulos | Euractiv.com)

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