Tom Vandendriessche, an MEP with the ID Group, has been criticised by the European Parliament for referring to the European Union’s proposed Migration Pact as a form of organised “population replacement”.
In a letter seen by Brussels Signal, Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, said talking about organised “population replacement”, or “omvolking“, as Vandendriessche said, was “unacceptable”.
Omvolking is a Dutch calque of the German “umvolkung“, a term relating to radical change in the demographic composition of a population, through immigration and influencing reproductive behaviour.
Metsola added that the term was connected “to the darkest times of European history”.
“The connotations of certain expressions are particularly delicate,” Metsola said, adding that MEPS should “always consider the impressions their speeches leave on citizens, and the emotions it can provoke in them”.
She requested that Vandendriessche refrain from using such expressions in the future.
Metsola did not impose a financial penalty or a temporary Parliamentary suspension, as some on the Left had called for.
His use of the term became an issue after Dutch MEP Sophie in’t Veldt accused Vandendriessche of “employing Nazi terminology”.
Reacting to the official letter by Roberta Metsola, Vandendriessche told Brussels Signal: “As the globalist elite is facing disaster in the upcoming elections, they cannot restrain themselves anymore from showing their true totalitarian nature.
“They want to silence elected representatives of the people for disagreeing with their replacement migration policy. Telling the truth, guilty as charged,” he said.
In his official reply to Metsola, also seen by Brussels Signal, the MEP claimed what he actually meant in using such terminology was “diametrically opposed to the interpretation she and MEP Sophie in’t Veld have suggested”.
“‘Omvolking’ is used to describe the process where the original population is replaced by migration,” Vandendriessche said.
“My rejection of this policy is unequivocal and if any connotation exists, it is in opposition to the policy associated with it.”
He further said that he believed in’t Veld was trying to “intimidate him” to stop him airing his political views.
“By manipulating my usage of the word ‘omvolking’, into something it has no associations with, she attempts to silence legitimate discourse,” Vandendriessche said,
He said he considered that to be harassment and added that his speech “has been affirmed as protected as a fundamental right”.
“In a democracy, it is ultimately the citizens who will judge the appropriateness of my choice of words,” Vandendriessche concluded.
The Vlaams Belang politician had referred to the European Commission’s migration policy plans, saying the proposed Migration Pact has no “return mechanism”, which meant the European Union wanted to “encourage” the arrival of millions more.
The article was changed for clarity. It used the word “reprimanded”, but that is an official sanction. Mr. Vandendriessche did not receive a formal sanction.
