Dutch MEP Rob Roos (Photo: ECR Group Twitter)
Dutch MEP Rob Roos (Photo: ECR Group Twitter)
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Freedom or Totalitarianism in Europe? – An Interview With Rob Roos

In recent decades, Europe has suffered a setback in freedom, especially in freedom of expression and research. Explaining, arguing and disseminating certain ideas has become a difficult task in the Old Continent. Saying the opposite of what the majority thinks can lead to marginalisation, humiliation or even cancellation of person. Cancel culture, unfortunately, is not new and is becoming more and more widespread in the Western world. However, even though this practice is spreading, there is a counterpart that opposes this phenomenon head-on. Conservatives are fighting for the right to speak, argue and debate on any topic, as long as it is done with respect and without violence.

Dutch MEP for the JA21 group Rob Roos has been a great defender of freedom of expression and transparency during the pandemic and has agreed to speak about his experiences.

You did a great job in defending freedom of speech and freedom of the people at the time of Covid. Why did you do it?

I wanted to go against all these COVID restrictions. They took away the fundamental rights of people, which was terrible. And I was not against vaccination. I think it should be a free choice. If you want it, you feel more safe then it’s alright. Alright with me. But I didn’t take the vaccine, I didn’t want it. Because it’s my own choice, It’s my own body. I’m taking very good care of my body and I should have the right to decide my own body like anyone else. And and that was that. That was my problem.

What do you think have been the consequences that have most affected Europe as a result of what happened during the pandemic?

These restrictions, these lockdowns, the mask, all these obligations have pushed the people in a certain direction, destroying complete economies. The education of children was stopped. Yes, there was education online. But for example, if you had a family with three children and only one laptop, two children were not able to follow any education. So at the end of the day, we created stupid people. We destroyed our society.

It was all based on nothing. When I had this interview with Pfizer I asked the question if the vaccine was tested in stopping the transmission before it ended the market and that was not the case, so they lied to all of us.

My problem was and is with the government who told us you should take it to protect your grandparents, your grandmother, your grandfather… Society follows what the government and experts say because theoretically they are there to protect you and tell you the truth, and it was the opposite.

They lied to us.´We had to fight against this information, information that came from the government. Nowadays, we are still fighting, because of all the damage they did, economically, psychologically… there is no one responsible for it.

What was it like to take Pfizer to the European Parliament?

As I said in the Tucker Carlson show last year, It was special. Pfizer admitted to me that at the time of the introduction, the vaccine had never been tested on stopping the transmission of the virus. This should have been a worldwide scandal, but only the conservatives raised our voices. Everything that was done at the legal level is without any legitimacy whatsoever in the face of this declaration. For example, the covid passport that led to massive institutional discrimination.

We still have work to do. Commission President, Von der Leyen, conducted secret negotiations with Pfizer’s CEO. The European Parliament continues to block the investigation to make public the conversation between Von Der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer, is an insult.

Changing the topic, Dutch farmers have been attacked last year and this year with the excuse of climate change. They’re forced to negotiate and argue with the government on the basis of that faulty data, because the government simply won’t budge. Dutch farmers thus seemingly suffered political persecution, how important is agriculture in the Netherlands?

The Netherlands is the second largest food producer in the world. Someone has to produce food.

Our farmers are very efficient and very animal friendly and innovative farmers in the world. We are such a small country and then being the second largest food producer in the world that’s really an achievement and it’s also an important business, let’s say €38 billion of our GDP.

It’s really crazy to destroy this, this food that has to be produced somewhere else. They will not do it in the same way as our farmers do. So it’s not helping the planet and also we have to feed 8 billion people. Taking away a lot of this capacity is not helping to prevent food shortages, but is not only the Netherlands, is only the example now.

First they created energy shortages and now they are starting to create food shortages.

What do you think about the victory of the farmer’s party? Do you think that being a new party they will perform well?

They did a tremendous job. This is not a party that was built in one day, they took the time.

They have had a great victory, I’m very happy with that. It’s also very necessary, because we have a kind of what I call a party cartel. It does not matter if you have voted for the liberals or the greens, they have the same agenda with minor differences.

The Farmers’ Party has disrupted the system. Now, I hope they will stay with their agenda and stay strong. Somebody has to do the job. My party was in the polls in November with 10 percent and in the elections we had 4,5 percent, but I don’t care, someone is doing the job and is fine with me.

Do you think that the Netherlands is only the first country that has been the experiment of the 2030 Agenda in the agricultural field?

It’s an agenda, the Agenda 2030 with all the social sustainability development goals pushed by the United Nations, and the United Nations is pushed by all kinds of NGOs, powerful NGOs and these NGOs are pushed by all of philanthropists, people who make money off it, that’s the thing.

But, it has nothing to do with democracy. No one chooses to reduce our farms, no one. The European Union is pushing the 2030 agenda to the member states, and people go out for vote, but it is the illusion of having a choice because our governments are just an executive body of what Brussels tells them. The laws comes from the European Commission but nobody voted for it. It is antidemocratic, top-down and it has to be stopped.

Sergio Velasco
Sergio Velasco is a Spanish political scientist, analyst and political commentator. He is the founder of Filosofia Política, a social media-based enterprise where he details and offers his take on Spanish, Hungarian and Polish political developments. A columnist in Hungarian and Spanish press, he is often invited on television to share his thoughts with the viewers.

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  1. […] or Totalitarianism in Europe? – An Interview With Rob Roos,” The Long Brief, June 15, 2023, https://longbrief.com/rob-roos-interview-freedom-covid-netherlands-farmers-party/; “Rob Roos (JA21) naar rechter om coronapasplicht EU-parlement,” Leidsch Dagblad, November 5, […]

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