A return trip to Qatar of 150,000 euros by private jet is a “vulnerable” subject
Do you remember during the World Cup? Minister Conny Helder (VWS, vvd) had to go to Qatar on behalf of the government. She wanted to go with the PH-GOV, but the government plane was reserved on that date by Sigrid Kaag (FIN, D66) for a three-city trip to Zagreb, Ljubljana and Prague. Helder did not want to take a scheduled flight because she had parliamentary debates on her agenda both immediately before the trip and immediately after her return, and a private jet was too expensive. It became a riot over a government aircraft that leaked in mid-November to RTL and was discussed in the Council of Ministers. The highest officials had to be involved to make decisions in the conflict. The solution: Kaag adjusted her trip, Helder was able to go to Qatar for a game of football that had ‘cabinet priority’.
Still fun, quarrel between VVD and D66, so GeenStijl made a WOO request about the riot just for fun (and we were smart enough to do that separately at both ministries), because the price difference between the trips of Kaag and Helder was – according to officials against RTL – about 85,000 euros. Well. That’s right! And that amount was high enough to allow the political power play between Kaag and Helder to turn out in favor of the VVD. Because 150k for a private jet to a destination that everyone was angry with, that is “incredibly vulnerable” as well as “inexplicable”, according to Conny’s Core Team.
Travel with us through the bureaucratic riot, below!
Helder, who also went to the World Cup on behalf of Hoekstra, had to go to the Netherlands – Qatar from Foreign Affairs, because: “If a Dutch government representative comes but the match is not attended, it can be taken as an insult,” wrote BuZa to VWS. And with a country that depends on slave labor, but from whomever you want to buy gas, you naturally want to remain friends. Unfortunately for Kaag, that didn’t work out well for her agenda, just when the alternative (a Defense Gulfstream) for maintenance was in the US.
The officials of Kaag are – understandably – not amused that their reservation of the PH-GOV will be called into question. Between themselves says one after receipt of the request from VWS: “Already stated [bij VWS – red.] that our M has no efficient alternative and that Qatar Airlines still has business class tickets. I will hear tomorrow whether VWS will send their minister of sports to Sigrid.”
“This escalated quickly”
VWS did not leave it at that: “Private costs 150k for Qatar and roughly 50k for Balkans. You would think FIN wouldn’t let that happen…..”, whatsapp VWS people each other. When it is decided in the Council of Ministers (MR) on November 11 that Helder should indeed go to Qatar, a FIN official texts a VWS colleague that they think it is “not a wise choice” for “Sigrid” (apparently it is a senior official). to relinquish the PH-GOV. “Just for my understanding, why wouldn’t a finance minister be open to the most efficient use of public money?”responds VWS, who have already claimed the price difference of almost 85,000 euros for private flights to Qatar and to the Balkans. “A cabinet should not want that”concludes the VWS employee.
Then again on the other side, when MinFin officials read the news report at RTL: “This escalated quickly”, says one. “Yes, even calculated per hour. Gosh”the other sighs.
The documents made public show that the cheapest option was a scheduled flight to Qatar, because then the taxpayer was 6.000 euro finished. But that was not a viable option at VWS. So both ministries started requesting quotes at the beginning of November for each other’s travels. It is striking that VWS, in response to our WOO request, provides much more insight into the internal and mutual consultations than FIN. FIN has also omitted the amounts of all offers, but VWS does make them public (tribute VWS). And where FIN grays out entire e-mails under grounds for refusal, we have complete conversations from VWS in which only names and e-mail addresses of officials have been made illegible (and that is an understandable choice).
Kaag wants “pushback on frames”
At VWS they calculate that a private flight to Qatar costs 147,000 euros, compared to 62,000 for Kaag’s European travel plans – a difference of 85,000 euros.
FIN officials are also very busy with quotations, but we cannot read prices from them because they are painted away. However, they will be high, because Kaag ultimately does not want a scheduled flight, but flying privately does not fit into the image either. She is quite busy with the latter – while she is at the G20 with Rutte herself: all (Whatsapp / SMS) messages that come from ‘Sigrid’ herself are about “pushback on frames”, the proper coordination of press information by both ministries and the prevention of “kindergarten material” in the information provided to the media, who, moreover, do not need to know everything as far as the minister is concerned:
The emphasis on that positive tone proves the grim atmosphere
Radiate that there was never any hassle
In the end, FIN will go through the pump and Kaag’s planning will be adjusted to the wishes of Helder (and in fact: the cabinet). Prague chosen byso that Kaag can still travel with the PH-GOV, which will then be back in Amsterdam just in time to take Helder to Doha.
But even before that new journey takes shape, all those involved at the two ministries are already coordinating their communication to put out the fire: “What FIN proposes is that VWS and FIN prepare a joint line, which shows that there was never any hassle and that it has been resolved between colleagues. The proposal is that spokespersons draw up such a line together. Seems sensible to me.” So that will be the second RTL report, dated November 14. Kaag’s journey will only be completed in the following days.
“How ugly The Hague is”
On the one hand, it is logical that FIN is annoyed that a planned three-stage trip, with meetings in three countries in a day and a half, was torpedoed because someone had to go to Qatar. But the World Cup was so sensitive that the pressure from VWS is also logical – Helder received a lot of criticism as a representative of the Netherlands at a seedy World Cup in a torture state. That eternal game with the image makes us suspect that VVD spin doctor Kees Berghuis tipped off his former colleagues at RTL in order to share the public blame a bit with Kaag.
But then did so many civil servants at two ministries really have to calculate each other’s travel expenses in a very childish way? On a quote basis, of all things – as if you need it to know that a return ticket to Qatar is a lot more expensive than the barely two hours to Zagreb.
With regard to the WOO request, it is striking that VWS is more open than FIN. In Finance, the tone towards a fellow ministry is more haughty and the insight for us, the citizens, is more limited afterwards. In the sports changing rooms of VWS, that atmosphere seems a bit more playful. Generally speaking, the conclusions of this story are already in the WOO pieces: both the “kindergarten material”, as Kaag calls it, and the sigh of an anonymous official when ‘the thing’ appears to have been leaked to RTL: “What is Den Hague is ugly.”
Yep. And you can read it all yourself because here are all the documents that have surfaced by GS:
– WOO-Documenten_VWS_Deel_1.zip (12MB)
– WOO-Documenten_VWS_Deel_2.zip (10MB)
– WOO Documents MinFin (25MB)
