EFR/Eenvandaag lead candidates’ debate in Ahoy: ‘That populist talk from Wilders doesn’t work on students’

Two thousand students attended the party leader debate, organised by Eenvandaag and the EFR faculty association in Ahoy on Monday evening. In Rotterdam-Zuid, six political leaders went head-to-head. “It was mostly just a lot of shouting.”

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Lots of blond heads of hair, light denim and white T-shirts. On Monday evening, the audience consisted exclusively of students. During the debate, organised in part by EFR, the student association for the Erasmus School of Economics, the party leaders made one of their final attempts of the campaign to win votes. Rob Jetten (D66), Frans Timmermans (GroenLinks-PvdA), Dilan Yeşilgöz (VVD), Joost Eerdmans (JA21), Henri Bontenbal (CDA) and Geert Wilders (PVV) faced each other in the debate, quite literally surrounded by students.

Student debate?

But was it really a student debate? “Topics that matter to students didn’t really come up”, says Daan, a medical student from Rotterdam. “They didn’t even talk about the basic grant.” Ariane, who came all the way from Groningen to attend, was also disappointed. “The topic of climate wasn’t discussed at all. And that’s an issue that’s hugely important to a million young people.”

“It was very loud”, says Bas, who studies Public Administration at Avans University of Applied Sciences in Breda. “That’s very telling of the state of the country right now. Just shouting and not listening to each other.” Christie, a Public Administration student at Erasmus University, thought it wasn’t that bad. “I was actually positively surprised. I had expected even more bickering.”

Wilders fails to impress

“I still don’t really know who to vote for”, Bas continues. “But I thought Yeşilgöz was very strong in the debate.” Martien, a Marketing Management student in Rotterdam, thought Henri Bontenbal and Joost Eerdmans performed well. History student Alisha said Timmermans won the debate: “The way he spoke out against the genocide (in Gaza, ed.) I thought was very powerful. I think that’s really important.” According to her, Wilders came off the worst. “That populist talk doesn’t work on students.”