Thierry Baudet faces a two-week suspension because the FVD leader continues to refuse to disclose his secondary activities. Members of Parliament are required to do so to prevent (the appearance of) conflicts of interest.
A large majority of the House of Representatives voted in favor of a recommendation from the so-called College of Integrity Investigation on Tuesday. PVV and FVD voted against.
Baudet will have one more chance to provide transparency about his work outside his political activities. According to the trade register, he is a director and shareholder of meal delivery service Eerlijk Eten and the publishers THPB Media and Amsterdam Media Group.
The FVD member has one month to still disclose these activities in the designated register of the House of Representatives. If he does not, he will be suspended for two weeks. During the suspension, he may not participate in debates in the House of Representatives. He is still allowed to vote.
Baudet has been addressed more often about not disclosing his secondary activities, but did not respond to requests from the College.
Van Meijeren: ‘We control the government, not each other’
FVD Member of Parliament Gideon van Meijeren called it “unacceptable” in a statement before the vote that Members of Parliament judge other Members of Parliament. “We control the government. Not each other.”
BBB leader Caroline van der Plas also thinks Baudet’s possible suspension is actually going too far, but still voted in favor of the advice. This is because it was only possible to vote on the full recommendation of the College, including the call to still provide transparency.
Whether Baudet will still disclose his other activities to the House of Representatives will in any case be clear in a month.