Ambassadors to complain over Dutch right-wing website

(THE HAGUE) - Ambassadors from 10 eastern European states are to send a protest letter to the Dutch parliament over the website of a far-right party, a Polish embassy spokesman said Monday.

Dutch Premier Mark Rutte however declined to join a chorus of condemnation of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) -- a parliamentary ally of his ruling coalition -- saying he would not comment on what he considered party politics.

The letter, signed by ambassadors including from Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania, will "express concern" over the website, where readers can lodge complaints against eastern European migrant workers.

"The states agreed Friday that there should be a common reaction to the idea of the Freedom Party when it comes to a website where one lays complaints against central and eastern Europeans," Janusz Wolosz, second secretary at the Polish embassy, told AFP.

"We plan to have it delivered, after being signed by all 10 of the ambassadors, to the Dutch lower house of parliament," he said.

The Freedom Party, whose anti-Islamist leader Geert Wilders was acquitted of hate speech last year, launched the site titled "Report Middle and Eastern Europeans" last week.

"Are you being bugged by middle and eastern European immigrants? Have you lost your job to a Pole, Bulgarian, Romanian or other eastern European? Then we would like to hear from you," says the website, which also flashes Dutch news reports about rising crime blamed on eastern European migrant workers.

Respondents can tick a "yes" or a "no" when asked whether they have experienced "nuisances" such as loud noise, parking, drunkenness, squalor or the loss of jobs to migrant workers.

Wolosz said the website was of "great concern" to the Polish government which was "trying to come up with a sensible reaction."

There are some 90,000 registered Polish citizens in The Netherlands, but the unofficial figure is believed to be around 200,000, he said.

Since the PVV site went live last Wednesday, it has drawn a spate of criticism including from the European Commission, which said Friday that it "completely went against the principles" of freedom and the free movement of people in Europe.

Dutch left-wing parties and Rutte's own coalition partner the Christian Democratic Action have also pressed him to condemn the site.

Rutte, whose ruling coalition in the 150-seat lower house is dependent on support from the PVV's 24 lawmakers, has remained silent on the issue.

"The website is not of the Dutch government, but of a political party," he told journalists while on a visit to the southern city of Biezenmortel. "It's not up to me to react to a website by a specific political party."

Wilders himself was indifferent Monday to the planned letter. "It's a waste of time," the Dutch news agency ANP quoted him as saying.

"Don't they have anything better to do?" he asked, asserting that the website was not discriminatory but merely served to highlight issues regarding migrant labour.

The website says the input it gathers will be collated and presented to Dutch Social Affairs Minister Henk Kamp.