Dutch blow whistle in EU poll

A Dutch anti-corruption Brussels whistle-blower will be an MEP according to the “99.9 per cent” of European election results published in the Netherlands.

The early publication of results is set to put The Hague in breach of EU law and, possibly, in the dock of the European courts.

National capitals holding rolling three day euro polls for an enlarged EU’s 350 million citizens are supposed to sit on results until 10.00pm on June 13.

Rules – to prevent one election outcome influencing other votes – have been sidelined by Dutch municipal authorities, which have published “99.9 per cent” of results.

A turnout “turning point” will boost hopes of higher participation in the European elections with voting up nearly ten per cent from 29.9 per cent in 1999 to 39.1 per cent.

Figures show – that as predicted – the ruling centre-right led coalition government has taken a hit from disenchanted voters.

Votes also sweep a former European Commission auditor Paul van Buitenen into the European Parliament – his ‘Europa Transparant’ campaign takes two seats.

Van Buitenen’s 1998 allegations of fraud and mismanagement within the EU are widely credited with bring down the European Commission in 1999.

“I return to Brussels with a smile,” he said.

But the ‘whistle-blower’ denies his take of 7.3 per cent of the Dutch vote represents an anti-EU protest.

“I will start to clean up things over there, because the people do not deserve the administration that is in place,” he said.

The eurosceptic and anti-immigration Pim Fortuyn list gained no seats – an indicator of the volatility of protest votes.

The socialist opposition to the centre-right coalition government have highlighted defeats for Dutch leader Jan Peter Balkenende.

The ruling Christian Democrats dropped 2.4 per cent of the vote, falling to 24.5 per cent, almost neck-and-neck with Labour which picked three and half points to net 23.6 per cent of the vote.

Balkenende’s government allies in the liberal VWD lost 7.5 per cent of the vote, and the CenterLeft D66 dropped 1.6 per cent robbing the European Parliament’s ELDR group of three seats.

Greens were not good for the Dutch with the ‘GroenLinks’ losing four per cent of support and two seats in the European Parliament.

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