The first of the current team to leave was Minister of Foreign Affairs Halbe Zijlstra, less than four months after the cabinet took office on October 26, 2017. A lie about a meeting with Putin at his country house cost him his head.
More than a year later, State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security left because his ministry had figures about serious crimes committed by asylum seekers. had not explicitly reported. “I therefore misinformed the House”, Harbers acknowledged.
Benefits affair and health complaints
At the end of 2018, State Secretary Menno Snel of Finance became the first minister who died by the allowance affair. Snel had to admit that the human dimension had not predominated in the way the tax authorities worked. With the fall of the cabinet on this file at the beginning of this year Minister Wiebes also drew his conclusions.
Two ministers said goodbye due to health problems. First there was the burnout of health minister Bruno Bruins at the start of the corona crisis, this year his successor Tamara van Ark left. due to persistent neck pain, after an interim ministry of PvdA member Martin van Rijn at Public Health.
The new outgoing Minister of Economic Affairs Bas van ‘t Wout, who first succeeded Van Ark as State Secretary Van Ark on Social Affairs and then took over the duties of Minister Wiebes, is currently also being temporarily replaced due to a burnout.
The fact that ministers left because of health problems is also striking, Bos thinks. “Of course it can be pure bad luck that people suffer something, as happened with Ollongren. But due to a busy job it is also difficult to recover quietly.”
Rutte’s intention to work with a small cabinet also increased the workload, Bos thinks. “Rutte has now come back from that. As far as he is concerned, a new cabinet will get more ministers to carry out the work.”
The fact that politicians are now even more in the spotlight than before may also play a role. “I don’t think you should underestimate what it’s like to be constantly on the go. The pressure to constantly determine your position on something at a high pace, to develop policy and to deal with rapidly changing circumstances demands a lot from people. something like, for example, Bruins, Van ‘t Wout and Omtzigt happened.”
New job
Last summer, two outgoing ministers left because they had found a new job. D66 State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven (Infrastructure and Water Management) became vice president at the World Resources Institute, her colleague Van Nieuwenhuizen at that ministry will be appointed as of October 1. chairman of Energy Netherlands, the industry association of energy companies. Her departure led to question marks among MPs, because she is still could stay on for weeks although it was clear that she would become a lobbyist.
The fact that Van Nieuwenhuizen will do something different may also have to do with the position of many VVD members on redundancy pay, says Bos. “So then, as a outgoing minister, you quickly look for something else.”
Sent away
This month, three ministers had to leave the field for political reasons. Foreign Minister Kaag resigned after being the minister with primary responsibility for the evacuation from Afghanistan rapped on the fingers by the House with a motion of censure. Her defense colleague Bijleveld had initially said to stay on anyway, but surprised by Kaag she joined one day later also off, just like Van Thijn had done in 1994 after his colleague Hirsch Ballin left.
A week and a half later, criticism of the corona pass became fatal for CDA State Secretary Keijzer of Economic Affairs: Rutte fired her on the spot after she dropped out of government policy in an interview on this crucial point. Her resignation is unique, usually under pressure a politician takes the opportunity to resign himself, but Keijzer refused.
With Keijzer’s departure, the number of ministers who have left has risen to seven ministers and four state secretaries, from a cabinet that had 24 members when he took office. With the end of the formation not yet in sight, the question is whether Rutte III will not further sharpen its own sad record.
The clock keeps ticking, Bos knows. “The longer a cabinet is out of office, the harder it is to keep people on board.”
–
