By Guus , 19 January 2003

We have seen our fair share of 'new politicians' this year in the Netherlands.

In an article about Emile Ratelband in the Washington Post:

He calls EU expansion "crazy," saying, "we don't need these gangsters, like Bulgaria." But he thinks Turkey should be allowed into the EU.

Obviously Bulgarians were not very pleased. The spokesman of the Bulgarian government, Todorov, declined to comment. "The ministry will stick to its practice and will not comment statements of foreign politicians made during pre-election campaigns".

Interesting enough on the agenda of Lijst Ratelband it said: "TV opnames voor de Bulgaarse televisie, Bulgarian National Television voor het programma ”Every Sunday”. LIVE!".

A quick phone-call to Bulgaria showed that he was indeed live on Bulgarian TV. My first thought was that he would apologize for his remarks but...

"When I'll be in power, you [Bulgaria] will never get into the European Union. As far as I'm concerned all Bulgarians are criminals."

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